Haunting Memories
by James Stapleton
Summary: All mysteries solved! Nancy's shocking past about her mother is revealed, and she is then invited to solve a mystery in an old mansion in Maine. But as the storm sets in, the guests are trapped in the mansion, and the first murder occurs...
1. Prologue: The Flashback

WARNING! This story continues from my previous novel, titled _Out of Tune_,and will have spoilers of that novel! So if you didn't read _Out of Tune_, I advise you to read it first and then read this novel. However, this novel itself is a decent mystery and is not, I repeat, is not a sequel, just a continuation, and the characters from the last novel will not appear again, so it's still as hard to guess who the killer is as before :-)

_Disclaimer: Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys are properties of Simon and Schuster. I made this story follow as closely to the original 56 books in the Nancy Drew series and 58 in Hardy Boys series as possible, but most of these facts are based on my own interpretations._

**_Foreword: Happy New Years! Also, my last novel got 2700 hits! Yay! _So, here is another brand-new mystery. Frank, Ned, Callie, and Nancy are off to Maine to solve a perplexing mystery concerning a cloaked figure who appears in the hotel only at midnight. And then, the ghost-hunting turns into a murder case (doesn't it ever?), where the killer could have been none other than a ghost! The mystery deepens when Nancy remembers a certain thing about her mother, who was murdered... Read and _Review_, please! I'll update more often when I have more reviews.

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**Prologue**

_**The Flashback**_

"Should we go shopping, Nancy?"

Nancy Drew, who just turned three, looked up at her mother and nodded. Mrs. Drew smiled warmly and took the little girl's hand.

"Today, we'll be going to get a perfect gift for your daddy for his birthday!" said the loving woman, looking out the window. "Oh, no, it's raining. I guess we should bring umbrella with us. Come on, Nancy."

Little Nancy smiled. Her mouth was filled with the baby teeth. One in front of the mouth was about to fall down. The little titian-haired girl wiggled the tooth until a sharp pain shot up to her head. She winced and touched the loose tooth no more.

As Mrs. Drew led Nancy to the car, she opened the garage door and then the car door. She let her daughter bounce on the passenger seat while she went around the car and got in to the driver's seat. After putting her daughter's seat belt on, she did her own. She slowly backed the car and got out of the garage.

The River Heights Mall was as crowded as ever. Because it was a week before the great celebration on Fourth of July, people were walking here and there, looking for something to delight their patriotism. United States' flag was hung everywhere, and no store was found that didn't have a flag either hanging from the pole in front of the door or pasted on the window. The air smelled delightful, since many restaurants and cafés were baking special holiday cookies and cakes. Nancy looked around her and saw many kinds of people, from ones who were barely taller than she to ones as tall as her mother.

The two went into a store. In it, there were many kinds of notebooks, watches, and office supplies. Mrs. Drew picked up a watch from the shelf and grinned. "Do you think this will fit Daddy?" she asked Nancy.

Nancy nodded with a broad grin that showed her the loose tooth. "I like it!" she said.

"Then I guess we should buy him this one, then."

After paying for the watch, which was gold-plated and very charming, the mother and daughter went back out the entrance of the mall.

As they got out of the mall, a car came rushing from nowhere and headed toward Nancy and her mother. Mrs. Drew immediately heard and noticed the car. The driver didn't seem to stop.

"Nancy! Run!" she shouted, pushing Nancy away. The girl landed on her face. A sharp pain hit her face, and she noticed that her loose tooth fell off. With an astonished expression, the young girl started to cry.

She turned around, crying and wiping her eyes. Then, she saw Mrs. Drew lying on the ground.

"Mommy?"

The beautiful blonde hair Mrs. Drew had was now dirty. Her face was down on the ground, and she didn't move. Around her, a pool of dark liquid formed. Nancy was confused. She stood there, holding the grocery bag that contained the watch which was to be given to Mr. Drew.

"Mommy?"

* * *

Nancy Drew woke up. It was just a dream, but the dream was too real. She almost thought that her mother's death happened just yesterday when it happened fifteen years ago. She looked at the framed photograph on the wall right next to her bed. There was a picture of Nancy standing with her mother, who looked very much like her. A drop of tear rolled down the girl detective's cheek. She had forgotten that day for fifteen years. Because of the shock, she went into a state of amnesia because her mind didn't want to remember the tragedy that took place on the rainy day in June fifteen years ago, the tragedy that changed Nancy and her father's lives forever. 

She had been having this kind of nightmare ever since Mrs. Fontaine told her about her mother's death…

"What do you mean? I thought she died of an illness!" Nancy had asked Mrs. Fontaine when the latter mentioned that her mother was killed. She couldn't believe it when Mrs. Fontaine, who was her mother's roommate when they were in the same university, said that the killer was still not found.

Mrs. Fontaine looked startled. "Didn't you know, dear? She was run over by a car when you just turned three."

Nancy thought she was going to faint. She held on to the edge of the table to support her. The memory of her mother was a huge blur. The only thing she remembered was that her mother looked very much like her and that she used to take her out to shopping and to restaurants. But for some reason, the memory from the summer of the year when Nancy turned three was a blank. Nancy had a good memory, but she couldn't remember her mother in her deathbed, even though Mr. Drew told her that she died in her bed.

"I can't believe it," she muttered, her hand holding the side of her head. "My dad was lying to me for fifteen years?"

Bess Marvin, who was one of Nancy's best friends, said, "But why do you say that the killer was never found?"

Mrs. Fontaine sighed. "That's because he was never caught. Even though many people saw the car and the accident, the killer's face was not seen, for the passersby were too far away to see his face. And after they reported the numbers of the license plate, the car was found ditched in a deserted field just a few miles outside of River Heights. It has been investigated by many officers but was left as an unsolved mystery."

Nancy covered her face with her hands.

"Nancy! Run!"

She opened her eyes in an instant. The voice was coming back into her head. It was the last thing her mother had ever spoken to her, and she could never forget it as long as she lived.

"Mom…"

Nancy rolled over in her bed and tried to sleep. Looking at the electronic alarm clock next to her, she realized that it was still five o'clock in a typical Thursday morning.

Five days had passed since Nancy had last seen Frank and Joe Hardy, who were her friends and also amateur detectives. They solved three cases with her, and Nancy was proud of them. The first case happened more than half a year ago, just before Christmas in New York City. She liked to call the case _Missing in Action_, since Bess and George were kidnapped in the process when Nancy was the main target.

The next one they solved was _Ocean of Deceit_. When the detectives went to Miami to investigate, Frank was found with a dead body and was the prime suspect, since the room was completely sealed with no secret passageway. The killer seemed to vanish into thin air, but the detectives later found out the ingenious trick the murderer used and prevented another death.

The last and most recent one was _Out of Tune_, where the detectives went to Seattle to listen to a friend's concert. The concert turned into a murder case, and the detectives were faced with a tough situation, for no suspect could have committed the crime.

Nancy smiled. It was nice to work with the Hardy boys for a change. Her hometown of River Heights was where she did most of her detective work, though, since the time when she was eight. Of course, at that time, she wasn't solving vandalisms and murders but was acting as a little sleuth who solved cases in her classrooms and sometimes in her friend's birthday party.

The girl detective decided to get up. Changing her clothes, she yawned and looked out the window. The sun was barely over the horizon, and the outside world was not yet fully awake. The town of River Heights was hushed and still. It was like looking at a photograph, frozen eternally in time.

Nancy finished dressing and decided to make herself a sandwich for breakfast. Since she didn't want to wake either Mr. Drew or Hannah Gruen, her family's housekeeper, she tiptoed down the staircase.

Mr. Drew was an attorney. It was rumored that he was always victorious no matter whose side he was on. His impressive reputation earned him the title as one of the most prominent attorneys in River Heights.

His intelligence went to Nancy, obviously. She was intelligent enough to figure out the solutions to the most baffling of all cases. Chief McGinnis was somewhat disturbed by seeing the fact that the girl detective solved more cases in one year than some of his men would in two or three years. The reason she got herself into the criminal law business was not only because she was smart. She had a superior sense for justice which her father said she got from him and his mother. But that was all he said.

Nancy suddenly remembered the time she solved her first mystery with the police. It was the case about _The Secret of the Old Clock_, and she found a will but faced many dangers along the way. Her father, after finding out that Nancy was involved in the case, seemed prideful and concerned at the same time. After the missing will was read, Nancy saw her father's face. He was very concerned, but Nancy didn't know what he was concerned about.

Passing by Mr. Drew and Mrs. Gruen's rooms, Nancy heard the two soundly asleep in their beds.

Hannah Gruen was a nice lady. She lived with Nancy and her father ever since Nancy's mother passed away. She and Mr. Drew had a mutual friend who advised that Mr. Drew hire a housekeeper when he lost his wife. Mr. Drew agreed and hired Mrs. Gruen as their housekeeper, a position she would keep for fifteen years and counting. A little plump and motherly, she cooked and cleaned the house just like a normal mother would. This was a big help for the Drews, since an attorney father and a three-year-old daughter was not a great combination when it came to time. It was such a bad combination that when Mrs. Gruen first came to their home, she was awestricken.

"Words fail me!" she said, staring at the living room full of newspapers, old files, toys, pieces of paper with doodles scribbled on them, and crayons. She looked at Mr. Drew. "Have you ever considered cleaning before, Mr. Drew?"

Mr. Drew had grinned embarrassedly. "Well, I was hoping you could do that for me, since I'm really busy these days."

And that was how the family lived for fifteen years. It was a really long time indeed, but Nancy was thankful of Mrs. Gruen. She and her father started calling her Hannah a month after she came to the Drews, and she would respond well than when they had called her "Mrs. Gruen."

Nancy then stopped and listened. Togo was barking.

Togo was Nancy's dog and was a Jack Russell Terrier. His entire head was brown, but his nose was white. A white line ran from the tip of his nose all the way up to the top of his head, and that separated his head into two parts. His stomach was white and his back brown. Whenever he felt happy or excited, he would bark and shake his little tail, which was white on one side and brown on the other.

Nancy knew that he would frequently bark at passersby, but it occurred to her that it was still five in the morning. What kind of person would go walking outside at this hour?

The girl detective then went down the staircase. When she went to the first floor, she noticed that the door to her father's file room was open and the lights were turned on.

"What?" she thought. "Dad's still in his bed. Did he leave his lights on?"

But she then knew that it wasn't her father. She almost gasped as she saw a person in black search through her father's confidential law files.

It was a burglar!

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**_Postscript: _Nancy faces a mystery even before she meets the Hardys! Who could this thief be? What will Nancy do? Please review!**


	2. The Lost File

**_Forword: _Wow! I didn't know I could get eight reviews for just one chapter! And there are already 90 hits to my story! I know that the last chapter was short and not much filled with action. Well, in this chapter, a shocking news about Mrs. Drew will be disclosed. Also, for the first time ever, you'll know what her first name is! Of course, Mrs. Drew's first name is my original, and I have reasons to name her what I named her (sounds kind of awkward to say it). But Mrs. Drew's name isn't that important. What's importantis why a thief would bother to get into Mr. Drew's office. (For those of you who have watched the show, you may find the scene to be very similar to the theft that occurred in Mr. Drew's office in_ Nancy Drew: Whispering Walls_, which is one of the episodes in Nancy Drew TV series starring Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew. If you get the chance, maybe you should take a look. I recommend reading it, but you might not like how the actors and actresses portray some of the side characters, especially Ned and George. Wow, I think I'm getting off topic here!)**

**Well, this story will be all-new and original. It'll also include the never-before-seen combination of characters from both Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series! The mystery deepens in this exciting first chapter of my newest novel.**

**Enjoy and review, please!

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**C****hapter 1**

_**The Lost File**_

The girl detective thought frantically about her next action. Should she go in and attack the thief using her karate skills? No, the burglar might be armed with a gun or a knife. It was too dangerous for her to get near him. What should she do?

Nancy went to the kitchen without making any noise. Getting inside, she silently closed the door and stopped lest the thief had heard something. Realizing that the culprit wasn't taking notice of her, the girl detective took the receiver of the phone and dialed 9-1-1. She waited, holding her breath.

"This is the River Heights Police Station. How may I help you?" a voice asked from the other side of the line.

"Hello? I got a burglar in my house, and I want the officers here right away," answered Nancy.

"Is he armed?"

"I don't know. I saw him in my father's file room."

"Has he noticed your existence yet, ma'am?"

Nancy looked through the crack she made from opening the door slightly. "No. I don't think he noticed me yet. I want help as soon as possible. And please don't let the officers turn on the alarm; it might scare the thief and he might hold one of us hostage if that was the only choice left."

"All right. The officers will be there shortly. What was your address?"

Nancy gave the address and hung up after she did so. She then waited patiently for a few seconds.

Then, the burglar made his next move. He went toward the desk in which Mr. Drew kept all his data concerning the past clients and cases. Nancy wanted to curse her father for not using the computer to store his information.

"I hated how Dad never relied on technology!" Nancy muttered softly, quietly enough so the burglar wouldn't hear her. "And he would've saved a lot of time when finding those files."

As the burglar used his knife to violently but quietly try to open the locked drawer, Nancy backed up a little bit and accidentally bumped into one of the metallic bowls which Hannah had forgotten to put back the night before. She held her ears as the bowl fell from the table and onto the floor with an ear-splitting crash.

"Now I've done it!" Nancy thought to herself as she held her breath. With the crash, the thief's masked face went up. And cautiously, he backed up. With a swift motion, he opened the window and ran out with a file in his hand.

A few seconds later, Mr. Drew and Hannah came out of their rooms, quizzical and concerned. Nancy explained to them what had happened. She and her father then went outside to investigate. Hannah waited inside.

Using a flashlight, Nancy looked at the window which the burglar used to exit. She noticed that the window had a hole in it. The circular hole was about five inches in diameter and seemed to be made using a special tool. "The thief must have entered through the window," Nancy murmured.

She then shone the flashlight outside. The culprit was long gone, and there were a set of footprints outside, right under the window which he used to get in and out. Nancy deduced that the footprints were about eleven inches long.

"The thief had a pair of huge shoes!" she mused.

A few minutes later, the officers arrived, but Nancy told them that the thief had already left.

"Hmm, so do you know what was taken?" the officer asked.

Mr. Drew immediately went back to his file room and looked into the drawer which was forced open. He squinted as he tried to read what the file names were, for he didn't have his glasses on. Sighing, Nancy handed him his glasses, and the attorney continued searching through his files.

"That's strange," he muttered after a while. Nancy asked him what was strange. "The only file missing is the one about the case I handled twenty years ago!"

"What case was it?" asked his daughter.

"A murder case," replied the attorney.

Nancy continued thinking. Why did the burglar bother to take a file which was twenty years old? And why would he want that now?

"Dad," Nancy started, "what was the case about?"

Mr. Drew thought for a while. Then, a shocked expression spread over his face. He seemed to have seen a ghost right in front of him. He then sat down onto his chair, which was right behind him. It was a good thing that the chair was where it was, for if it wasn't Mr. Drew would've fallen down on the ground.

"Dad?" Nancy was concerned. She had never seen her father so shocked, since he was such a composed person all the time, both at home and in the court. "What's wrong?"

The prominent attorney looked up at Nancy and then covered his face. He let out a huge sigh. Nancy knew that what he was thinking wasn't a good thing; her father never acted like this before, and she was more baffled than ever.

"What's wrong?" she asked again.

Her father kept quiet and shook his head. After the police officers finished dusting for fingerprints, they went out of the house, leaving the place as quiet as it had been an hour ago. Nancy helped Hannah prepare for breakfast as she saw her father coming toward them. "Dad, if you don't want to tell me what's bothering you, it's all right. Hannah and I prepared a breakfast that might cheer you up."

She then pointed toward the homemade pancakes and her father's favorite: bacon and egg. Hannah always reminded him that his cholesterol was too high, but she agreed to make the dish, for he hadn't eaten bacon for nearly a month.

Mr. Drew smiled weakly and sat down. The breakfast was eaten quietly, and when he finished the attorney went to the fireplace, which was not lit, and sat down by it. He then motioned Nancy to come. Nancy looked at Hannah.

"Go ahead. I'll clean up by myself," replied the housekeeper.

"Nancy, I want to tell you something about the file that was lost," he said. "You already know from a talk with Mrs. Fontaine that your mother was killed, don't you?"

Nancy nodded grimly. She saw beside her father on the couch. She felt like a three-year-old again, sitting next to her father just as though he was reading a book to her. Another teardrop rolled down her cheek. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Mr. Drew sighed. "Well, after your mother was killed, you couldn't remember anything for a few days. You even forgot your own name and birthday. But a few days later, you started to remember the life you had before the tragedy, but you never remembered your mother's death. I knew it was a bad thing to tell you that your mother was killed. I just told you, when you asked, that she died of an illness, and that was how things were explained. You didn't suspect a thing until just a few days ago."

Nancy looked out the window. "I really hated the fact that you were lying to me all the time, but I know now that it was for my best. But tell me," she said, facing him now, "what was the file about? You seemed awfully shocked to realize what the file was."

The middle-aged man chuckled lightly, but his eyes weren't laughing much. They looked sad. "Well, the file was from fifteen years ago, just a month before your mother died."

Nancy's eyes got wider. "Really?"

Mr. Drew nodded.

"But what was the file about?"

"It was about a case your mother worked on for a few weeks. She was a very talented detective, as you've heard from Mrs. Fontaine. She was so talented the people of River Heights once called us the 'Mightiest Crime-Bustin' Couple' for a long time. You know, that was true: your mother handled dozens of cases before and after you were born. She was the one collecting the evidences against the crimes while I was the one making the evidences into use at the court."

Mr. Drew chuckled again. "Good old times don't last long, do they?" he asked, mainly to himself.

"So what was the case?" Nancy wanted to know.

"Well, there was a rich lady in Titusville, and she was killed in her mansion. She was a widow, so she lived alone. The police knew that a robber entered the house, found that lady, and killed her because she saw his face. But they didn't know who the robber was. So your mother did her investigation and started collecting clues and strands of hair and anything she could find.

"The case was given up by the police force, but your mother still tried. She interrogated suspects herself and made sure that their alibis didn't have holes. And she finally found a culprit, a man named Charles Fender, a merchant who lived in a town a few miles from Titusville. He was then called to the court, and I put him to jail. He received a sentence of life in prison."

"So the case was finally over?"

The gray-haired man nodded, taking his glass off and rubbing his eyes. "That was all to it, but then your mother was killed when a car ran over her while she was shopping with you." He brought his wrist up and showed Nancy. Nancy's eyes got wide.

"That's…"

Mr. Drew grinned. "I guess you remember now. Yes, this was the watch which you and your mother picked to give me as a birthday present. Now, it's the most prized possession I own—" he then looked at Nancy, "—excluding you, of course. You are the most precious thing I have."

Nancy finally smiled. "Thanks, Dad," she said, hugging her father. "I'll go change now. The entire ruckus made me wide-awake!"

She then went to the stairs. As she exited the room, Mr. Drew looked at the watch on his wrist and sighed.

"Carol…" he muttered.

* * *

"Earth to Joe Hardy!" Frank called. "Come back here from your trip to Pluto!" 

Joe looked up. Frank was staring at him with a grin on his face. "Well, did you have a nice nap there?"

"I… I wasn't taking a nap!" Joe muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"Sure you weren't," Frank said sarcastically. "Then why were you drooling on your English project you have to do for next fall?"

Joe looked down. His brother was right; the blond detective's book was spotted with his saliva, and some of the words were too wet to read.

"_Wuthering Heights_, huh?" Frank asked, looking at the book's cover. "I read this a while back. It's a good book, isn't it?"

Joe shook his head stubbornly. "No way, bro. Nothing gets more uninteresting."

Frank chuckled. "You mean less interesting?"

"Whatever."

The Hardy brothers were at their home in the busy city of Bayport, about seventy miles away from the town of River Heights, where Nancy Drew lived. The city was always busy. During the weekdays, people went to downtown to their offices and workplaces. During the weekends, they still went to downtown to swim in the Atlantic Ocean or to go to different museums. Bayport had it all; Science Museum, Art Museum, Literature Museum, Technology Museum, Music Museum, and numerous exhibits and concerts. Because it was summer, kids and teens were free from school and were hanging around the city and talk with their friends and eat at local cafés.

Mrs. Hardy went out of the house to go shopping. Mr. Hardy was reading in the living room. Ms. Gertrude Hardy, Mr. Hardy's sister and the boys' aunt, was busily taking care of the garden.

The telephone rang. Frank immediately stopped making fun of his brother and ran to the phone, which was located in the kitchen. He almost slipped on the tiles but managed to maintain his balance. He took the receiver and said, "Hello?"

"Hi, Frank!"

Frank grinned. "What's up, Callie?"

Callie Shaw was Frank's girlfriend from the time he was a junior in high school. She had blonde hair and beautiful translucent eyes. She liked to study and read books, but she also liked to hang out with Frank. She was as energetic as Joe sometimes and was always equally outgoing. It sometimes came to Frank that Callie and Joe could make a good couple, but he knew that Joe had a girlfriend as well, named Iola Morton. Her brother, Chet, was the Hardys' best friend for years and was a little plump, probably because of all the donuts he was consuming daily. But he was always like that even from childhood, and old habits failed to die as time passed.

"I just called to let you know that I got two tickets to a movie. Wanna come?"

Frank immediately accepted. But he then felt awkward. "Why are you inviting me to a movie?"

"Because I haven't seen you in ages all because of your hanging out with Nancy out in Seattle, I just felt like inviting you to some time off. But seriously, when a girl invites her beloved boyfriend to a trip to the movies, is it necessary for her to always have a reason?"

Frank smiled. "All right, then. I'll come. When?"

"At three in the afternoon."

"And where?"

"At the Bayport Cinema."

The dark-haired detective said yes and said goodbye. After hanging up, he went to Joe. "I'll be going to the movies now," he said. "And it's already two."

"Sure, sure," Joe said, not even listening to his brother. After Frank was gone, he closed his book with a sigh. Time was being wasted because of that book, and he needed to take a break or go investigate some more cases. He wished that someone would call the Hardys.

And his wish was granted: a second later, the doorbell rang. Joe answered it.

"Yes?" he asked as he opened the door.

A plump teenage boy was standing in front of him. "Hi, Joe," he said.He was Chet.The Hardy brothers'best friendwas holding something behind his back. His face looked grim. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

Chet brought his hand from behind his back. He was holding an envelope. "This just arrived. It's from my aunt in Maine. She's really distressed about something, and I thought you and Frank could help her."

Joe asked, "What is it?"

Chet paused for a minute. "Well, she says the hotel she owns is haunted."

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**_Postscript: _I'd say that haunted house and theft at the main character's residence is the most typical starting point for a very typical Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mystery. It actually reminds me of the good-old days of original edition books. I've read some original versions and am surprised to see how boring the revised edition looks when compared to the old ones!**

**Anyway, even though the basic mystery the detectives will be solving sounds too normal, I guarantee that the story will get a ton of twists and red herrings. I can't tell you too much now. You'll just have to read the next chapter to find out more!**

**Now, as I said before in the epilogue of _Out of Tune_, there will be a total of _FOUR _mysteries that the detectives will be solving. The first one is the theft. The second one is the haunted house. The third and the fourth ones are yet to be uncovered, but I guarantee that this single story will have as many mysteries as four Nancy Drew books or four Hardy Boys books combined! And I didn't just put these mysteries into the story to make it long. Each mystery will have a special meaning that will be uncovered near the end of this novel (I'll say around the eighteenth chapter). Why did the thief steal that file? Why is someone trying to make the hotel look haunted?**

**Oh, and one more thing. The reason I named Mrs. Drew "Carol" is because I consider Carolyn Keene to be Nancy's "mother" because she wrote the stories.**

**More will be coming soon!**


	3. The Engagement Ring

**_Foreword: _This will be the longest chapter I've ever written! When I looked at the page number, I was surprised to see that it was nearly three pages longer than my usual chapters! The reason is that I thought of making two chapters but decided to make them combined to form one chapter. Therefore, this chapter will have a lot of things going on, and you should read to find out what. Anyway, the semester is nearly over, and I plan to enjoy the three-day weekend. I'm still working on the third chapter, and I'm sure it will be finished by next Friday or Saturday. Read, enjoy, and please _REVIEW!

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**Chapter 2**

_**The Engagement Ring**_

"What do you mean, 'haunted'?" asked Joe, surprised to hear that Chet's aunt's hotel was haunted.

"I mean exactly what I said," Chet said. "But first, read this."

Joe got the letter. He read it out loud:

"'Dear Chet:

"'Things aren't going as well as I planned. You know that I opened a hotel just a year ago, don't you? Well, the guests from the hotels are complaining about weird noised during the nights, lights moving from place to place outside with it is dark, and a woman's sobbing that seemed to come from nowhere!

"'And just a few weeks ago, someone trashed my lobby, but none of my employees know anything about who trashed it. I became scared. But before long, I woke up in the middle of the night and heard someone's footsteps. I slowly opened the door and saw a person wearing a black robe. Following him quietly, I noticed that he was heading to a certain part of the corridor that led to a dead end! I kept following him, and he disappeared just around the corner. I turned around that same corner a few seconds later, but he was gone! There was a solid wall there but no door! I felt a chill as I went to bed again that night.

"'I just wanted to know if you knew any good detectives around where you live because I'm still unfamiliar with this place and don't trust anyone here. It seems like there is an ominous present occupying the hallways.

"'Love,

"'Aunt Edna.

"'P.S. If you can, visit me during the first week of July, since I'll be hosting a Fourth of July gourmet dinner in my hotel, and I'm sure you'll like the dishes. Call me whenever you can.'"

Joe looked up at Chet. "So where is this hotel?"

"It's located right at a cliff," Chet answered. "Just like the spooky old house in which we investigated before."

Joe remembered. One of the earliest cases he, Frank, and Chet solved was _The House on the Cliff_, in which they broke up a drug-smuggling ring in an eerie old mansion on the cliffs overlooking Barnet Bay.

"What is the hotel's name?" he asked.

Chet thought for a moment. "I think it's called Hotel Piermont. She named it that because the first owner was a Quebecois magician named Piermont who died mysteriously in his house in 1920s." His voice went down to a whisper. "And rumor has it that the people who owned the house never lived for more than five years. Also, the residents have said that they had seen mysterious dark shadows walking around the mansion at night. The most recent resident was a very talented pianist named Maria Voorhees, who was said to have committed suicide."

Joe's eyes widened. He remembered Maria Voorhees from the most recent case he, Frank, and Nancy worked on. He knew that she lived in Maine before her demise, but didn't know where. Now he knew; she lived in the house that was now Hotel Piermont.

"I'd better call Frank," he said before saying goodbye to his friend. After Chet was gone, he called Frank immediately.

"What is it, Joe?" asked Frank as he answered the phone. Joe explained everything to his brother. Frank thought for a moment. "You know that there is no such thing as a ghost, don't you?"

Joe chuckled. "Well, you won't know unless you go there with me."

"Then should we invite Nancy over, too? I mean, she might be interested to find out that there's another mystery for her to solve."

Joe said yes. "I'll call her right away."

As Joe hung up, Callie looked at Frank. "Are you on a case again?" But before Frank could answer, she added, "I'll go with you."

"What?" Frank was astounded. "But…why?"

Callie smiled. "Because I want to help you investigate. If Nancy Drew can solve a case, so can I. Besides, I can pay my own airfare. Well? Is it all right?"

Frank looked at his girlfriend. "Well, I guess it's all right."

Callie hugged Frank as tightly as she could. Frank suddenly remembered that they were walking in the middle of the sidewalk. Several passersby were looking at them and wondering what they were doing. Frank blushed and pushed Callie away. After that, they headed straight to the auditorium. The concert was about to start in five minutes. But as they walked, Callie didn't let go of her arm that was holding Frank's. She had a mischievous grin on her face.

* * *

Nancy heard the phone ring right when she was getting ready to call Bess and George to see if they wanted to go shopping with her. She answered it, hopeful that it was either of them, but was pleasantly surprised to hear Joe's voice. 

"Hi, Joe. What's up?" she said cheerfully.

Joe immediately asked, "You know a friend I have named Chet Morton?"

Nancy said yes. "I've never actually met him, but I've heard of him from you and Frank. What about him?"

"His aunt owns a hotel in Maine, and she says her hotel is haunted."

Nancy couldn't help grinning. "That's a typical case, actually. I've seen many 'ghosts' haunting hotels. But they all appeared as a hoax and were done by human beings who were either tricksters or hiding a treasure or something. Very typical."

"Well, you might not think so entirely when you hear the whole incident with the ghost," Joe said. "She said in the letter that one night, she saw a figure in black walking around a corner and disappearing when there was a dead end there."

Now the girl sleuth was interested. "That sounds intriguing," she said. "So are you inviting me to Maine or just boasting that you've got a case to work on? Well, for your information, I got a case for myself as well."

Joe chuckled. "But there's one thing to say before I answer: the previous owner of the mansion was Maria Voorhees!"

The titian-haired girl gasped. "Really? _The _Maria Voorhees who was killed in that mansion just a year ago?"

"Yeah. So how about it? Do you want to get involved in a mystery or just spend a typical summer vacation at home in River Heights?"

Nancy grinned. "You know my answer, Joe."

Joe then told her the address and said goodbye. Nancy immediately called Bess's house. George answered.

"George? I thought this was Bess's number!"

"It is," George Fayne, one of Nancy's best friends, answered. Despite the name George, she was a girl. "I just came over to discuss the trip we're taking."

"What? You're taking a trip? Where are you going?"

"To Shadow Ranch," answered the brunette.

"Really?" Nancy was surprised. Shadow Ranch was the ranch which Bess and George's uncle and aunt owned. Every summer, Bess and George would go there to help out for a week and also to have fun under the Arizonan sun. "That's a shame."

"What do you mean?" It was Bess. She was talking using another phone in her house.

Nancy explained to them everything she heard from Joe. After thinking for a bit, Bess suggested, "Why don't you invite Ned, then?"

George agreed. "He said he didn't have part-time job for a few days. Maybe you can take him there with you."

The girl detective nodded. Ned Nickerson was Nancy's boyfriend for a long time, ever since her meeting him two years ago. She then dialed Ned's cell phone number. To Nancy's delight, her boyfriend agreed to go to Maine with her. "It's about time you got a new mystery coming," he added, chuckling.

Nancy smiled and hung up. Turning around, she headed into her father's room. Mr. Drew was out of the house, so she was free to roam about the place. Opening the drawer, the girl detective saw something peculiar. The drawer was already halfway open, and there was a strange ring in it. Looking at it, she immediately knew that it didn't belong to her father. A sudden thought struck her. Could it have been left by the thief?

She took out her gloves from the drawer in her room and quickly went down the stairs and into the study. She took the ring and inspected it. The ring seemed quite ordinary and inexpensive. There was a pearl placed on a golden ring. The inscription was: "BP&IM."

The girl inspected the ring. It was quite small and seemed to be worn by a woman, since the finger that used to wear the ring was as slender as Nancy's. But from seeing the initials, the girl thought that it could have been an engagement ring.

"So the thief was a woman who was married or at least engaged?" she muttered to herself. But that didn't seem to add up. The police had told the Drews earlier that the shoes that the culprit wore were a pair with size twelve! And Nancy's shoes were barely size eight. That meant that the culprit must have had a larger pair of feet than her, but that made the thief more likely to be a fully grown man of a tall stature. Besides, when she had seen the thief that morning, she could have sworn that he looked like a man. But she also knew that this could have been a huge trap.

Maybe the thief wore size-twelve shoes to make the police think that she was a man.

Or maybe the thief was actually a man wearing size-twelve shoes, thinking that the police would think that the thief was thinking that the police would think that the shoes belonged to a man but actually belonged to a woman…

"Ugh," Nancy moaned. She had to admit one thing; logic wasn't actually her forte when she was studying geometry in junior high. She looked at the ring again. It seemed quite old. She could easily tell that someone wore that ring from around ten or fifteen years ago, since the inner part of the ring, which was gold-plated and not actually real gold, was turning silver. That indicated that the wearer of the ring used to put on and take off the ring quite often.

She then went to her room and used her magnifying glass to see the ring better. But she knew that the case wouldn't go smoothly if the mysterious BP and IM weren't identified. She needed the cooperation from the police. As she got up to get a cup of water, she heard a slight sound. That sounded like the bush next to the window was disturbed.

"What could it be?" she wondered aloud. The weather outside was peaceful and hot. There wasn't any wind present, and she had a bad feeling about something.

"Togo?" she muttered. No, Togo wasn't the one. He was staying in the backyard, and the noise came from the front part of the building. She went silently down the stairs. Afternoon in River Heights was always quiet and peaceful, since everyone was downtown. In fact, most of the tourist attractions and offices were located there, and almost nobody was left in the suburban part of the city.

The girl looked out the window. Nobody was there.

Then, she went to the backdoor and peered outside. Togo was there, staring at the squirrel climbing the tree and howling at it. Nancy couldn't suppress a giggle. After giggling for a short while, she went back to the living room, thinking that the noise was just from her imagination.

"Oh, darn," she muttered. She forgot to take the newspaper into the house, and the mail carrier already passed her home. Opening the door to get the mails and the newspaper, she stopped and stared at the bushes located next to the window. The window led to the study. She looked at the ground under the window. There was a set of shoeprints leading from the pavement in front of the garage to the bush and then back to the pavement. There were fresh tire tracks on the ground. Nancy shuddered.

She had been spied!

Nancy shuddered as she thought about how she had been watched. But who was it? Was it the thief?

The girl detective went back inside after taking the mail and went into the kitchen. She then took the phone and called her father.

"Dad? This is Nancy."

"Nancy! What's wrong? You don't usually call me when I'm at work."

"I think someone has been spying on me, Dad," muttered Nancy.

"Spying?" Mr. Drew's voice sounded even more concerned. Nancy explained how she saw the footprints outside near the bushes, and he sighed. "Did you call the police?"

"No, I don't intend to get the police into this. But Dad, I found a new lead."

Mr. Drew asked, "New lead?"

Nancy said yes. "I found a ring that seems to be an engagement ring. There are two initials: BP and IM. Can you do a little search to see if you can find a couple with those intials?"

Mr. Drew said he would get right to it and said goodbye. Nancy hung up. She sighed and went back into her room, where she stayed till Hannah came home.

* * *

The doorbell rang. Hurried, Nancy went and answered it. It was the Fourth of July, and every house in the neighborhood had the American flag hanging from the poles in the front yard. She saw who the visitor was and smiled broadly. "Hi, Ned!" 

Ned smiled. "I came to pick you up," he said. "So do you have any luggage that you want me to carry?"

"I got only one suitcase, so no. Besides, I'm not like Bess, who brought four suitcases to a four-day trip," answered Nancy, chuckling.

It was two days after Nancy found out the ring, but Mr. Drew still hadn't found any clue. He said he would continue his search when Nancy and Ned are having fun in Maine. Nancy said goodbye to Hannah and Togo as she got into Ned's car. The car went down the driveway, and Nancy watched until Hannah and Togo disappeared from sight when Ned turned around a corner.

Nancy and Ned headed to Wiscasset Airport in Maine. In the plane, Nancy wondered about Frank and Joe. She had never seen their friends before because she actually never went to Bayport. Frank and Joe had met Bess and George often enough, but she had never seen Frank's girlfriend Callie, Joe's girlfriend Iola, or Frank and Joe's best friend Chet.

The airport was crowded with people. Nancy and Ned managed to go through the crowd and out of the airport without being pushed around. The girl detective saw the weather outside, she groaned. It was raining slightly, but by looking at the dark gray clouds over the airport, she knew that it was going to turn into a storm soon. As the couple went outside, Nancy heard someone calling her name. Turning around, she saw Frank and Joe standing next to a bus with a grin on their faces. Next to Frank stood a girl with her blonde shoulder-length hair curled inward toward her face. Nancy and Ned went to them.

"That must be Nancy," the blonde girl said to Frank with a smile. Frank nodded.

"Nancy, this is Callie Shaw, my girlfriend," Frank introduced. Nancy shook hands with Callie.

"So how do we get from here to the hotel?" asked Ned.

Joe pointed toward the bus. "We use that. The bus goes to the hotel twice every other day. In other words, the bus leaves at ten in the morning and at three in the afternoon today, but the next bus after that won't come until July sixth."

"You mean we're going to be stuck there for two whole days?" asked Callie, surprised.

Frank laughed lightly. "Well, I don't mind much. I heard the hotel has a great view."

At that moment, Nancy felt a slight tug on her shoulder. A moment later, her bag slipped down her shoulder and away from her arm. Alarmed, the girl detective turned around. She saw a man running away from her. He was carrying her purse.

"Thief!" Nancy shouted. Frank and Joe looked at her and then at the man running away. Frank started, but Joe ran faster.

The blond detective ran toward the thief, who was then thirty yards ahead of him. The pickpocket ran fast, but Joe was a little faster than he was.

The man ran across the crosswalk and to the other side of the crossroad. Joe immediately followed, but he failed to notice that the signal was now blinking. Just a second before Joe got to the crossroad, the signal turned red.

Joe, too busy trying to get the thief, didn't notice that there was a truck heading toward him. When he got to the middle of the crosswalk, he heard the beeping of the truck. Surprised, he turned his head to the right. It was then that he saw the truck heading into his way!

"Joe!" Frank called when he and the others ran after Joe. "Run!"

The truck driver stepped on the pedal, but the truck was too huge and too fast to stop in a short period of time. Its speed decreased, but it still smashed into Joe.

Callie screamed. Joe was then on the ground with a small puddle of blood around his head.

"Nancy, run!"

Mrs. Drew's voice came into the girl detective's mind. She remembered the time when her mother died. She was hit by a car, just like Joe. She had a puddle of blood around her, just like Joe. It was raining when that happened, and it was raining now. Nancy's eyes got wider as Mrs. Drew's death came over her mind.

"Mom…"

Ned turned around to see Nancy. To his surprise, she was very pale and had a horrified look on her face. Her eyes were no longer glittering; it was rather clouded and dark.

Nancy's mind was filled with the vague images of her mother. Her face, her voice, her death… Everything seemed to swirl around her, and the next second, her mind went black.

* * *

**_Postscript: _Another thrilling cliffhanger! Will Joe survive the blow? What happened to Nancy? Who was the mysterious pickpocket? And why did the man steal Nancy's purse? More about Joe will be disclosed in the next chapter!**

**P.S. I decided to update once for every five reviews I get. Because I didn't get as many reviews as I wanted for _Out of Tune_, I will update once a week if I get at least five reviews. If not, I'll update once every two to three weeks.**


	4. The Stolen Pendant

**_Foreword: _I can hardly believe it! I got 28 reviews already, and I haven't even started telling about the mysterious mansion! I'm really grateful to see how many readers are interested in my story. Anyway, the last cliffhanger was more like a double-cliffhanger, since Joe was bleeding badly and Nancy has fainted. Many of you may be wondering, "Why did the pickpocket steal Nancy's purse? Will Joe be alright? What will happen to Nancy?" Well, the questions will be partly answered in this new chapter. Read, enjoy, and review, please!

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**Chapter 3**

_**The Stolen Pendant**_

Ned rushed forward and caught Nancy just before she hit the ground. Frank and Callie were running toward Joe, and some passersby were looking at the teenagers. Some were calling the ambulance. In all the excitement, Ned shook Nancy, hoping to wake her up.

"Nancy! Nancy!"

The ambulance came. The men who came out of the ambulance carried Joe into the car. Frank and Callie followed, but Frank noticed that something was wrong with Nancy when he saw her in Ned's arms, unconscious. The dark-haired detective ran toward her.

"What's the matter?" he asked Ned.

"She fainted," answered Ned, still trying to wake Nancy up.

At last, the girl's eyelids slowly opened. Ned sighed in relief. "Nancy, are you all right?" he asked.

Nancy nodded. "I…I thought of my mother. She… She was hit by a car just like Joe. She died instantly, and her death keeps coming back!"

She looked around frantically, as if she had been watched by a killer. "I…I can't stop shivering, Ned. I…I can't put Mom's death away!" Her voice was panicky, and she hugged herself tightly as if to protect herself from the memory of her mother's death. She looked like an infant left in the rain: so helpless, so scared…

The girl detective began to sob. Then, she started to weep uncontrollably. Her entire body was shaking with fright.

Ned hugged his girlfriend gently. "It's okay, Nance," he said soothingly. "I'm sure Joe will be okay. I'm sure this isn't the first time he had been in a terrible accident."

Frank agreed. "He'll make it, I'm sure."

Callie held on to Frank's arm. "Of course he'll make it," she murmured, even though she was quite unsure and doubtful in her heart.

Someone had called the ambulance earlier, and the car came in less than two minutes later. The medics carried Joe away. Nancy, Ned, Frank, and Callie all looked at the detective, whose eyes were closed. His forehead was smeared with blood, but the bleeding wasn't as bad as Frank thought. The medics said that he was still alive but needed immediate medical attention. The other detectives got into the ambulance as well.

The sky was cloudier than ever, and the detectives were worried that the clouds might turn to a storm soon. Then, they waited.

It seemed like an eternity, but two hours later, the doctor came out of the emergency room. He smiled at the detectives.

"Your friend is out of danger now. He had a slight concussion, but no damage in his brain or vital parts of his body," he said. The doctor chuckled slightly. "It was very lucky of him to have such a hard bone on his head. A normal person's head would have cracked open, but this boy is as tough as a bull. He will be all right."

Frank and Callie sighed in great relief. Ned grinned and held onto Nancy, who was steadily recovering. The girl detective was only shaking slightly, but she still needed Ned's support, or she would have fallen on the ground. She smiled weakly as she heard the news.

The doctor added, "But he's not recovered his consciousness yet. I'm afraid he'll have to stay here for a few days before he can wake up." He then looked at the detectives. "Are you his friends?"

"I'm his brother," said Frank.

"Well, you'll need to call your parents right away and let them know of this."

Frank nodded. He dialed home, and after a short summary of what had happened, Nancy could hear Mr. Hardy yelling at Frank. She heard the voice as loud and clear as if she was talking on the phone herself when she was nearly thirty feet away.

"You should have held him down or tackled him, Frank!" exclaimed Mr. Hardy. His voice was so loud it made Callie jump. But Frank was calm and listened. Nancy guessed that he was used to his father's yelling at him like that. "You know that your brother is reckless and needs someone like you holding him down! I'm glad he's not dead! You should know better!"

"Fenton! Fenton! Calm down!" two voices said. Frank immediately knew that they were his aunt, Gertrude Hardy, and his mother's voices. Apparently, Mr. Hardy had been yelling loudly enough to bring those two into the house from the garden.

Frank said, "I know, Dad. I'm sorry. I couldn't stop him, Dad. He just started running as fast as a wild boar!"

"It's okay, dear," said Mrs. Hardy. "Aunt Gertrude is taking your father into his room right now. I just wanted you to know that it wasn't your fault. Besides, Joe should now learn to control his endless energy. Why, I can bet that he would try running from here to the North Pole if he got the chance! Anyway," she stopped and considered what to say, "I'm glad he is okay. You should still enjoy your vacation, though. I'm sure Joe wouldn't mind your spending time with your girlfriend."

Frank smiled, blushing slightly. "Okay, Mom. Bye."

After Frank hung up, Ned looked at him with concerned expression.

"Your dad really got angry at you for that one, didn't he?" asked Ned.

Frank nodded again. "Well, Joe was always the aggressive and the short-tempered one. Dad says I should've stopped him before he got hit by that truck. I guess it is my fault."

"Nonsense!" Callie defended. "Joe always got himself in trouble many times before this, you know that! You don't have to be so hard on yourself!"

Frank smiled. He then looked at Nancy. "So what was in your bag?"

Nancy answered, "Nothing precious, actually. I just had my make-up kit, my cell phone, my detective kit, my notebook, and..." She stopped. "…A pendant with my mom's picture in it."

"Your mother?" asked Ned.

Nancy nodded. "I didn't wear it much, but I always carried it with me because—well—she's no longer alive. That pendant was the one she gave me when I was three, and to think that I lost it…" A drop of tear rolled down her cheek. "I can't believe I lost it."

"But what about your wallet?" Frank asked.

"I had my wallet in my pocket, so I didn't lose it."

After exiting the hospital, Callie looked at her watch and gasped. "You guys! We're going to miss the last bus to the hotel!" she exclaimed. "And if we don't get on now, we'll have to wait here for two days for another one to come!"

Hurriedly, the detectives went to the bus station. They were not a second too early, for the bus started just as they took their seats. Ned looked around. Besides the four detectives, there were five other people on the bus. There were three women and two men. One was an Asian woman with dark hair and a pair of glasses. She was carrying a canvas and a toolbox. She seemed to be an artist or a painter.

The man who sat behind her looked European. He had blond hair and hazel eyes. He seemed to be from a German origin. Because he was constantly typing on his laptop, Ned deduced that he must be a businessman, a journalist, or a writer. He seemed to be in his forties.

There was another woman sitting right across the aisle from him. She was a young woman, probably in her early twenties. She had brown hair and dazzlingly dark eyes. She only had a briefcase with her, like everyone else in the bus, but didn't seem to be indulged in any activity during the ride.

Another man was on the bus. He looked very foreign. He looked French to Ned and had blond hair and blue eyes. He was in his mid-twenties and was fairly handsome. He seemed to be reading a book. From what Ned saw, the book's title was French, which confirmed his guess.

The last guest, who sat on the last row of chairs, was a woman in her early fifties. Ned took a sneak peek at her belongings and distinguished the camera which professional photographers used hanging from her neck. Ned knew that she was a photographer. He then sat back and sighed. Turning to his right, he saw Nancy, who was staring out the window at the Atlantic Ocean.

Callie and Frank were sitting right next to each other. "Well, what did Chet tell you about this mansion?" she asked. "Is it a romantic place?"

Frank grinned. "Depending on where you're looking at. If you look at the seemingly never-ending ocean, then yeah, I guess it's a romantic place. But if you look at how it's now allegedly haunted, then I think not."

Callie smiled. "Any place where you are can be romantic, Frank," she said. She gave Frank a short hug. The detective's face turned a little pink.

After two hours of bus ride, the detectives and the five other passengers arrived at Hotel Piermont. Callie looked up at the century-old mansion and gasped. "Frank," muttered she, "it's beautiful!"

She was right; the place was neat and well-designed. The hotel's walls were painted white, and that helped the hotel glow. The house, oddly enough, was built right on the edge of the cliff. The view was splendid; the detectives could see miles and miles of open sea. It was the perfect image of a paradise. The only thing that prevented that place from being so was the ugly weather. The clouds were getting thicker and darker. More rain seemed to fall.

Upon arrival, Callie looked at the beautiful mansion and sighed happily. "I guess the airfare was worth it," Callie said teasingly, hugging Frank.

"Okay, okay," Frank finally said, prying his girlfriend off. "Let's go in."

The inside of the hotel was nothing less beautiful than the outside. There was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and a staircase made of marble leading from the grand lobby to the second floor. From the dining room next door, a woman in her early fifties appeared. Her hair was grayish brown. "Welcome, everyone!" she said, smiling brightly. "Welcome to Hotel Piermont! I am the owner of the hotel Edna Kempton. I'm very pleased to see all of you! Please come in!"

And behind her, a stout man in his mid-fifties appeared. He seemed to be the most unfriendly man the detectives ever saw, for his jaws were set firm and his eyes were piercing.

"This is the caretaker Xavier Churchill," Ms. Kempton introduced. "And over there," she pointed toward a young man coming down the stairs, "is the cook Derek Ogden. He's a marvelous chef, and even though he may be young, his dishes are culinary pieces of finest art."

The young man, who seemed to be in his mid-twenties, smiled and bowed to the guests. He was a dark-haired man with dark-colored eyes, but his personality seemed quite bright.

"Edna," the Asian woman who Ned thought was a painter asked, "is it true that your hotel has been haunted by an evil presence?"

Ms. Kempton smiled uneasily. "Yes, quite. But I do hope that won't drive all of you away. After all, this hotel is one of the best there is in the state of Maine."

"Oh, no!" the woman said with a smile. "I'm a painter, after all. I like somewhere with air of creativity."

Ms. Kempton looked around and noticed the detectives. She hurriedly told them to come to the dining room after the guests left. After handing out their keys, she motioned for the four detectives to come.

"Oh, I'm really thankful you came here!" she said gladly. "But… Where is Joe? I thought Chet said that there were going to be five people coming."

Callie explained, "Well, he's in the hospital right now."

"Oh, my!" exclaimed the woman. "Is he okay?"

The detectives assured her that he was going to be fine. She then explained them what had happened so far. "There were many strange happenings during the nights. Sometimes, I would find that the pictures hanging from the walls had been switched or disappeared. Then, I heard the sound of water hitting the waves during the nights when the moon was full. It was really strange, since the sound seemed to come from the corridor! And you know the incident where I saw a ghost disappear into thin air, don't you?"

"Yes, Ms. Kempton, but I…" started Nancy.

"Oh, you can call me Edna," Ms. Kempton interrupted. "You're my guest here, so you don't need to call me so formally."

"Yeah, 'Edna'," Nancy said, "what about the guests and the rest of the staffs? Do you think they could be responsible for this?"

"I simply don't know. Well, as you can see, we have five guests excluding you and three staffs. I know most of the guests from what they have told me. That Japanese woman whom you saw talking to me just now was Amy Takahashi. She's a renowned painter who is famous for painting pictures with ghostly images and other apparitions.

"The German man was Gary Friedrich. He's a writer who is famous for his horror novels and thrillers. You know, he was the one who made the script for the movie 'Whom the Dead Despised'."

Frank gasped. "Really? That movie was said to be the most horrifying film in the history of horror movies!"

Edna grinned. "Yes, dear. And he speaks English better than he speaks German. Let's see…the other guest I know is June Quinn. She's a famous photographer who claims that her photographs all include ghostly figures and faces."

"What about Norma Yale?" asked Nancy.

"She is a journalist. Well, she isn't a journalist for a newspaper but for a magazine that talks about the supernatural. I read one of the issues before, and believe me, that was one of the most bizarre magazines I've ever read! But she seems more down-to-earth than the other quests in here."

Callie winced. "Seems like all these people are attracted to a haunted hotel like this!" she muttered.

Edna smiled. "But I'm a little baffled about the other one: Henri LaSalle. He is French, and that's all I know about him. Also, he came from Quebec. I must admit, he seems quite strange, if you ask me. For example, he said he just came to United States a few years ago, but when he spoke to me, I noticed that his grammar was correct, his accent very slight, and his speech very fluent! It seems like he has been here longer than he said he was."

Frank remembered the tape that captured the ghost. "Edna, could you tell us where the ghost actually disappeared?"

The hotel owner nodded. "It's on the second floor," she said. The detectives went up the stairs and got to the second floor. The mansion had two stories total, and each floor had seven rooms. Therefore, there were thirteen rooms altogether. Rooms one to five were located on the first floor and rooms six to thirteen were on the second floor.

Frank noticed that there was another room right next to the room with the number 13 carved on the door. Because the door didn't have anything written on it, he asked the owner of the hotel, "What is this?"

"That's the linen room," Edna answered. "I store the linens there. Also, there are some spare lamps just in case the ones in the hotel rooms break."

"Hm…" Frank muttered.

The detectives and their guide then went out to the main hallway on the second floor. Then, the hotel owner led them to a particular wall. Frank noticed that the mysterious corridor led to a dead end. Touching the walls, the detective concluded that the walls were solid and no trapdoors could be found.

"That's strange," Callie muttered, feeling the walls. "Usually, the trapdoors are located here. I don't see any!"

Ned looked up at the ceiling. "And I don't see any trapdoor up there," he added.

At that moment, the five people heard a piercing scream downstairs. They immediately ran down the stairs. Upon reaching the first floor, Edna asked what the scream was about. The painter, earlier introduced as Amy Takahashi, was standing in the dining room holding her mouth. She was trembling in fear.

"What happened?" Frank asked. He immediately stopped when he saw what Amy saw.

On the table in the dining room, someone had written a message in dark red ink.

No, Frank thought. That isn't red ink.

"That's blood!" gasped Callie.

The detectives stared at the message in awe.

"The Magician is awoken."

* * *

**_Postscript: _Here is another double-cliffhanger! Who is the mysterious Magician? Who wrote the sickening message on the table?**

**Don't forget about the other mysteries. What about the owner of the mysterious engagement ring that was left at the Drews' residence? And why does Nancy have a feeling that she had seen some of the hotel guestsbefore when she obviously hasn't met any of them in her previous mysteries?**

**For those of you who are concerned about Joe, he _will _make appearance later in the novel, but for now, it's just Callie, Frank, Nancy, and Ned who will tackle the mysteries at the haunted hotel.**

**Coming up next: _Into the Night_** _-- The mystery deepens even more..._


	5. Into the Night

**_Foreword: _I read my readers' reviews, and one of them noticed how some characters acted coldly toward Joe. I admit that I should have made them care more, but if I did that, then the detectives won't go to the hotel and the story ends there. I don't think that would sound very exciting to most of you, unless you love a mystery novel that lacks mystery. The reason I had to leave Joe in the hospital like that was because, well, this is supposed to be a Frank-Callie and Nancy-Ned mystery, and in that case, Joe is just a side character. I hope you will still continue reading, since the suspects have just appeared last chapter, and the real mystery starts now. As you can see by the title, the mystery occurs at night, and that's the time most fit for a mystery—especially an impossible crime—to happen. You'll see what I mean when you read this newest chapter. Read, enjoy, and—just as important—REVIEW, please!

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**Chapter 4**

_**Into the Night**_

Edna Kempton gasped as she heard the announcement. Nancy looked in awe. "So…is it real blood? Is it human blood?"

"I don't think it's human blood," Frank answered. He took a whiff. "It's fake blood, just like the one used after your disappearance in the last case we solved together."

Nancy sighed in relief.

"I wonder who did this," Ned said. "This is a really gruesome thing to do, making it seem like a message written with blood. And what does the writer mean when he wrote 'Magician Is Awoken'? Who's the magician?"

"Alphonse Piermont," muttered Edna. "That's the Quebecois magician that first built this mansion. It was his home back in the 1920s!"

Amy Takahashi stared at the message in horror. "So this hotel _is_ haunted! His spirit roams the place even decades past his demise!"

Then, all the other guests and staffs appeared in the dining room. "What's the matter?" asked Gary Friedrich. He was still carrying his laptop. "What in the world is _that_?" he pointed to the message.

"Oh, my god!" June Quinn screamed. "That's horrible!"

But then, she took the cap of her camera lens off and quickly took a picture. "It must be the doings of Alphonse!" she muttered.

Norma Yale held on to her book in fear. Frank noticed that she was holding the bible. "He's back… He's back… He's back…" she murmured. She took out a cross and pressed it onto her chest.

Derek Ogden, the cook, immediately took a napkin. "We should wipe this off," he muttered. "This must be the works of a maniac. He thinks he's frightening us, but I'm not scared yet!" With that, he wiped the table clean.

Xavier Churchill, the curator, stared blankly at the bloody message. Callie turned around and saw in horror how calmly he acted when he saw the bloody letters.

"You… You aren't afraid?" she asked the man.

Xavier grinned. "Afraid? I believe in no ghost, if you ask me. Besides, I'd like to see one face-to-face, if this so-called 'ghost' is brave enough to face me!"

With that, the man started laughing heartily. Callie watched as he left the dining room and into his room upstairs.

After everyone was gone, and as Edna gained back her wits, she led the detectives to the main lobby. She took out a key from her drawer and unlocked the lock that held the keys in place.

"What's interesting," said Frank amusedly. "You keep the keys locked up over here?"

Edna nodded. "Yes. Because I don't feel safe when leaving the keys out here in the lobby, I decided to lock the keys up. Therefore, when I'm not here during the night, I know that the keys are safe."

"So do you need that key to get the keys?" asked Callie, somewhat confused.

Edna grinned. "Yes, I'm afraid. It's the custom here that every morning, while you are away, you should be locking your keys here so you won't lost it. You don't have to give it to me; you can place it on the counter when I'm away, and I'll lock it up for you."

Ned asked Edna: "Shouldn't you call the police about that bloody message?"

Edna shook her head. "I don't really want the police to be involved in this. They'll think it's just a prank, anyway."

When the detectives got their keys, they left the lobby and went into their rooms. Ned saw June enter Room 13.

That's the room she's staying in, he thought. Room 13… What an unlucky number.

Ned's room was Room 8 while Nancy's was Room 9. Nancy's room was right next to the corridor with the dead end wall and Ned's room was across the corridor from hers.

Nancy sat on the bed in her room, alone. There was a funny feeling that she knew one of the guests from before. "But where did I see that person?" she wondered. "As far as I can remember, this is the first time I've ever seen any of them. I don't think they were in my previous cases. If so, why do I have a strange feeling that I already knew someone among the guests?" She touched her temples with her arms. "I can't remember…I can't remember…" She opened her eyes and stared at the weather outside. It was getting worse every minute. Even though it was just five o'clock, the weather made her feel like it was nine at night.

The telephone in her room rang. "Hello?" she answered immediately.

"Oh, Nancy?" It was Edna. "I just wanted to tell you that there will be a Fourth of July dinner held at the dining room tonight at six o'clock. I'm just letting everyone know about it, but if you could tell the others, that'll be nice. Bye!"

Nancy hung up after saying goodbye. She sighed as she looked down. Her purse was gone, and so was the necklace with her mother's picture inside it. Who could the thief have been? Why did he take her purse?

So many things puzzled Nancy. She suddenly remembered the theft back home. She called home using the telephone in the room. "Dad? It's me, Nancy."

"Nancy! How are you enjoying your vacation so far?"

Nancy chuckled. "If you could call this a vacation instead of a job. What about the case back home? Did you find any clue as to who the thief could have been?"

"No. But I've done some research on the ring that you found in the study. It turns out that I had a client named Mr. Ian Milton, who married Bertha Palatine twenty years ago."

Nancy sat up, excited. "So, did you find out where this person lives?"

Mr. Drew sighed. "I didn't, Nancy. This man died eighteen years ago."

"Dead? What about Mrs. Milton?"

"She died three years after her husband died."

Nancy was surprised. "Why did they die? I mean, if the ring wasn't left by either of them, then who did?"

Mr. Drew said, "I can't be sure now, Nancy. But I know one thing: both Mr. and Mrs. Milton were killed!"

The titian-haired detective took out her notebook and jotted down these facts.

"And the file that was stolen is about the murder of Mrs. Milton. It seems that a man named Robert Fraser killed Mrs. Milton, who was a widow then, when he snuck into her home to steal something of a value. But she found him, so she got killed. Your mother found out the truth, and I gave him a life sentence with no possibility of parole."

The girl detective jotted down these notes also. "Do you think you can talk to Mr. Fraser?"

Mr. Drew sighed again. "I'm afraid I can't. This man killed himself right after he was sent to prison."

Nancy couldn't help but sigh. "I can't believe it! All the people who are connected to this case are dead!"

"Right. And dead people can't talk, so we are officially at a dead end," her father said. He then added, "But I will look for that man's relatives. I'm sure I can find out more in a day or so."

"Well, call me when you get a chance. Oh, and since my cell phone was stolen, can you call the number of the hotel?" She then gave him the telephone number of the hotel.

"Wait a minute," Mr. Drew interrupted. "You said your purse was stolen?"

Nancy said yes. Mr. Drew sighed. To assure her father, Nancy said: "But credit cards are all safe. Don't worry."

Mr. Drew laughed. "Well, I hope your secret admirer doesn't know where you live. Well, it seems like I'll have to give you a new phone, then. Try not to let this ruin your vacation, all right?"

"Thanks, Dad. Bye."

After hanging up, Nancy sighed. BP and IM… Who could those two be?

Taking a look at the clock again, Nancy yawned. "Wow, it's still five-fifteen, and I'm ready to go to bed."

But it was really strange. Nancy didn't feel tired at all just ten minutes ago, but now, she felt like she had been working for hours. Her mind started spinning and her vision blurred.

"What…What's happening?" she muttered.

She put a hand by her temple to stop the dizziness, but it was no use. The darkness started to envelope her slowly. Then, she collapsed onto her bed.

* * *

"She's late," Frank muttered. He looked at his watch. It was half an hour past six. 

"I think she's just getting ready," Callie said, seating herself at her seat.

"I just saw a 'do not disturb' sign hanging from the door of her room," said Derek. He smiled at Callie. "Wow, I've never met a cute girl like you hanging around here in the wilderness of Maine!"

Callie blushed slightly. Frank ignored the comment and changed the subject: "So, why did you decide to work here?"

"Well, I've been interested in cooking since I was a boy. Since my mother died when I was young, I had to do all the cooking for our family. I had a father who was always busy and a younger sister who couldn't even boil a cup of water right!" He chuckled. "Well, I hope you'll enjoy this party, since after dinner, I'll be serving my specialty: Gâteau Piermont."

"A cake?" Callie asked, interested.

Derek nodded. "Finest in France. I studied there for two years and my skills in cooking French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek foods are well above a typical chef's. I've studied in Italy for three years, Spain for two years, Portugal for a year, and Greece for a year as well."

"Wow," Callie said in amazement.

Frank obviously didn't feel comfortable. He asked Callie to sit with him at the table. The dinner was served, but Nancy was still not at the dining room. At seven, the detectives were worried about her, but she wasn't the only one gone. June hadn't shown up, and neither did Norma Yale, Henri LaSalle, and Gary Friedrich. Norma said that she had to write her article that was due next Monday. Henri said that he didn't have much of an appetite that evening and stayed in his room as well. Gary said he had to finish the three chapters he planned to write that day for the newest novel of his.

The dinner was joyous and bright. The dishes were made of Spanish appetizers, Greek soup, Italian entrée, and Portuguese bread.

After the dishes were cleaned, the cook went into the kitchen to get the cake. But before he could come out from there, something upstairs broke with a tremendous crash. Then, there was another crash just a few seconds later.

"What was that?" Callie asked, looking up at the ceiling.

"That's wasn't from outside. Maybe we should take a look," Edna said, getting up.

The detectives and the others ran upstairs. They got to the corridor just above the dining room. The window on the wall was broken, and the rain fell into the corridor. The broke window was right next to Room 13.

"I wonder if June heard it," Edna murmured, worried.

Frank tried the doorknob. "It's locked," he said.

Edna frowned. "That's weird. Someone left a key on my desk just before dinner, and I locked it up. The key had the number 13 carved on it, so I knew that it was the key to Room 13. I'll go get it," she said, turning around.

"I'll go with you," Frank said.

The two went down to the lobby. Frank watched as the woman took the key from her pocket and unlocked the lock that held the keys in place. After that, they went back to Room 13. Edna tried the key. It worked.

Peeking into complete darkness, Frank opened the door carefully. The lights from the hallway allowed him to see in the dark. He felt for the light switch and turned it up.

"What?" he muttered in surprise. The lights didn't work.

He took his flashlights out and lit it. He looked around. Nobody was in it. He just saw a briefcase, a lamp, a table, two chairs, a bed with sheets and a pillow, and a door leading to the bathroom. He opened that door. Stepping into the bathroom, he was sure that nobody was inside. Then, he turned around and checked the back of the door. Nobody was hiding there as well. He then tried the window. It was locked from the inside and was nearly impossible for a person outside to enter, since there wasn't even a little space for a thread to pass.

"I guess she's not inside," he muttered. The detective then exited the room and closed the door behind him. He turned the knob to check if the door was locked. It was.

Then, Derek gasped as he looked down onto the floor. "There are footprints on the floor!" he shouted.

Sure enough, there were a set of wet footprints leading from the window to the door and then to the corner. The footprints showed that the person then turned around the corner. Ned was the first one to go around there. It led to yet another window, which was also broken, but this time from the inside. He looked out the broken window. He noticed that the window was right above the cliff. He was puzzled. Did the person jump fifty feet into the ocean? No, he didn't think so. The jump would be dangerous if not fatal. The water down there was rough and perilous. Also, there were some rocks sticking out from below the surface.

Ned was astounded. "He…disappeared."

* * *

**_Postscript: _What happened to Nancy? Who broke the windows and why? How did the mysterious intruder get out? Did he really disappear into thin air? Don't think this is the end yet! In the next chapter, the truly "impossible" part of the impossible crime appears. For those of you who aren't used to reading a crime novel, I can say that there is absolutely no gore in the next chapter. Besides, this is just a T-rated story! Anyway, the next chapter's title is: _Bloody Magic _(Pretty scary, if I can say so myself) Thanks for reading this chapter! Please review.**

**P.S. Because this is a locked-room mystery, you might need the map of the hotel like before in _Ocean of Deceit_, since it will be easier if you can see where each of the rooms are. If you want one, you can say so in your review. I will send one to you as soon as possible as a Word attachment. Good luck sleuthing!**


	6. Bloody Magic

**_Foreword: _I'm sorry for not updating sooner! I've been VERY busy, and it took me quite a while to find a few hours for me to sit down and continue my new novel. The last chapter left off with Ned's saying that the intruder disappeared, and this chapter continues from that point. And now, the third mystery will be revealed… What is the third mystery? What happened to Nancy? Where is June? Read to find out! And PLEASE review!

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**Chapter 5**

_**Bloody Magic**_

"He disappeared?" asked Amy, horrified.

"He might have jumped into the ocean, but I don't see anybody swimming away from this hotel. It looks like the person just disappeared into thin air right after stopping in front of June's room."

"Do you mean that the intruder kidnapped Miss Churchill?" asked Xavier.

Frank answered, "The intruder must've entered the hotel through this window, went into June's room, and then escaped from the other window, but that makes this very strange."

"How?" asked Callie.

"Do you remember the time when the windows were broken? Well, I heard the second crash just a few seconds after the first one. This meant that the intruder broke the window here, ran to the other one, and broke that window as well. But if he did that, he couldn't have gone into June's room, knocked her out, and took her out in less than five seconds. That proves one thing."

Derek had a worried expression on his face. "That means…the intruder is someone in this hotel?"

Frank nodded. "We should check Gary, Norma, and Henri. They're the only ones without alibis when the crashes were heard."

"And don't forget Nancy Drew," added Amy. Ned turned to Amy, puzzled. "Didn't you remember? She wasn't at the dining room as well. At least we should consider her a suspect in this case if she didn't have an alibi."

"Maybe we should check on her," suggested Derek. "Maybe she's sick. To tell the truth, I have this odd feeling about her…"

Ned grimaced. "Okay, let's go."

Back in Room 9, Frank knocked on the door of the girl detective's room. "Nancy?" he asked. He knocked again. No answer. The do-not-disturb sign was still hanging from the knob.

A sudden twinge of fear and panic came over both Frank and Ned.

"What happened to her?" they both thought in alarm.

Ned pounded as hard as he could on the door. "Nancy! Are you in there? Answer me! Nancy! Nancy!" No answer came from inside.

He then turned toward Edna. "Do you have a spare key for this room?"

Edna nodded. "There's a master key for all the rooms in this hotel. I have it locked up as well." She and Ned went down to the lobby once again. When they came back, Edna was holding the master key.

Opening the door, Ned and Frank saw Nancy. She was lying on her bed, and her eyelids were closed. Ned rushed to her immediately. He shook Nancy, and after a few seconds, her eyelids opened. "Ned?"

Ned sighed in relief. "I'm glad you're okay," he muttered.

Nancy sat up weakly. "I seemed to have dozed off," she said. "Ugh…My head is pounding like a drum."

Frank thought this was strange. Why didn't she wake up when they were pounding on her door? And her "headache" might mean…

His questions were never answered. Just at that moment, a scream shattered the silence. Everyone turned around. It came from Room 13!

Frank, Ned, and Callie ran toward that room. They saw Norma standing there, her eyes wide open in horror. Callie looked at the door of the room and shuddered.

There was a bloody message on the door that read: "Magician Is Back…With Vengeance."

Edna used the master key again and opened the door. When they saw what was inside, Callie screamed and covered her eyes.

In the darkened room, June Quinn lay flat on the ground with her eyes wide open, staring at the empty ceiling. Her body was smeared with something red. It was blood. Her clothes and hair were also red. Her face was now very pale.

On top of her chest was a black chapeau used by many magicians. But instead of a rabbit, a sickening knife stuck out from the top of the hat.

Frank backed up in horror. But then, the light from the hallway reflected off of the surface something shiny and metallic. Frank stared at it. It seemed to be a necklace of some sort…

"That's my pendant," Nancy muttered, her eyes wide with shock.

"This can't be!" muttered Frank. He went into the room and picked up the trinket. It had the initial ND. Opening it, he saw a picture of Nancy.

No, it wasn't the picture of her. It was her mother. Mrs. Drew looked surprisingly like Nancy, but her hair wasn't titian-blonde. She had dazzling blonde hair and the bright smile that seemed to light up anyone's darkest day.

"Nancy, are you sure?" asked he. He showed it to Nancy. She nodded.

He then looked at the other side of the pendant. Carved on it were the initials CD. "Are these your mother's initials?" he asked. Nancy again nodded.

"Her name was Carol…Carol Drew."

Edna then suggested, "I'll call the police."

She went to the lobby and dialed 911. After a while, she came back, more bewildered than ever.

"There was a landslide," she said, horrified. "The police said that they won't be able to come!"

Everyone in the room looked at the woman, shocked. "We're literally stranded here until the storm clears, and I don't know how long it'll last!" said she, trembling.

Amy gasped. "That means we are trapped here with a murderer!"

All four of the remaining guests, the three staffs, and the four detectives looked at each other in consternation. Someone among the eleven people in the hotel was the murderer, and they all were trapped inside the hotel until the sky could clear up. They just stood there and stared at each other, wondering who that person could be.

A few minutes later, the people in the hotel gathered in the dining room. They didn't speak a word to each other until Frank cleared his throat. "Okay, I'll need to know your alibis during the time of the murder."

"What are you playing, kid?" asked Xavier. "You aren't the cop around here."

Norma glared at Xavier. "No, but he is the son of Fenton Hardy. I'm sure you know of that man."

Xavier's expression changed from gruffness to a pure form of amazement. To Nancy, who was looking at the man's face, he seemed almost to be in a state of fear. But he regained his composure and kept quiet.

"I was in my room," said Gary Friedrich, the horror writer. "As you may well know, I'm a horror writer and need to finish my novels. If I don't, then I won't get my money. Understood?"

Frank asked, "So do you have anyone who can confirm that you were in your hotel room?"

Gary looked away from him. "No," he answered.

The detective then went on to Norma, the reporter. "Can you tell me what you were doing then?"

Norma nodded. "I was in my room by myself finishing up that article I am supposed to submit for the magazine. I don't have anyone to back that up, however."

Frank nodded. "Mr. LaSalle," he said, facing the young Frenchman. "What is your alibi at that time?"

"I was in my room reading. I don't really like being with people and therefore enjoy eating by myself. I was planning to ask the cook there to bring the dish to me, but I refrained, thinking that it wouldn't be very nice to ask of such a favor like that," the man answered. "But nobody can confirm my staying in my room." He then remained quiet.

Ned was suspicious of this man. He seemed to be a very fluent English speaker, but he said that he didn't stay in this country for long to Edna. Why did he tell her that?

"Nancy," he said, facing the girl detective, "why didn't you come down to eat with us? Why did you stay in your room?"

The blue-eyed detective grimaced. "I…I don't remember. After phoning my dad, I suddenly felt very drowsy and collapsed onto my bed. It seemed like only a few minutes later that I felt Ned shaking me."

This made Ned even more concerned. "Did you eat anything when you came here to the hotel?"

"No, I didn't," answered Nancy.

Ned kept quiet, thinking. He had his guess that someone put some sleeping powder into her food, but that guess was wrong, for she didn't eat anything since she arrived. But her statement strengthened the fact that she was drugged…

"But don't you think that a ghost could've done this?" asked Amy.

"Why do you suggest that?" Frank asked.

"Just think about it…When the windows were broken, we rushed upstairs to Room 13. But when you looked into the room, there wasn't a soul in there. So you closed the door, checked that the door was locked, and went to see where the footprints led to.

"But then when you came back after visiting Miss Drew in Room 9, you found that bloody message written on the door. And when the door was opened, it was clear that June was murdered.

"Here is the question: how did the person get into the room if it was locked? Edna here had the only key for that room, the master key, and the only key that unlocked the key holder. The other master keys were locked in the holder at the lobby, but nobody could've gotten those keys without the one Edna had. How did the person open the door, put June inside, and exited the premise when he didn't have the key to that place?"

Callie gasped. "Are you saying that this is an impossible crime?"

Amy nodded. "That's why I'm suggesting that a ghost did it; if it didn't, then who else could've walked through walls?"

Frank bit his lip. Amy was right; the crime was impossible to commit, since he himself observed that nobody was in the room. And he was the one who checked that the door was securely locked.

Nancy suggested an idea: "But what if the person was already _in _that room? Frank might've missed him because he had been hiding in the bathroom or behind the door, for instance."

Frank shook his head. "No. That's impossible. Even though it was dark, I checked every single place where a person could've hidden in: the bathroom, behind the door, in the cabinet, and so on. I didn't see anyone."

After the discussion, the detectives went to the scene of the crime. The body was already removed from the room. Nancy observed the bed. "Maybe the killer hid under this bed," she murmured. But when she took the covers off, she noticed that the space beneath was too narrow for even a little child to get in. It was obviously impossible for the killer to hide in there.

Sighing, Nancy looked around the room. Frank was searching in the bathroom, Callie was at the sink, and Ned was looking at the briefcase June had brought with her.

Nancy looked at the briefcase with Ned. She then laughed slightly as she wondered if the person could've hidden in that little briefcase. She then found a notebook.

"What's that?" she asked her boyfriend. Ned showed it to her. She opened it and saw that it was a normal schedule organizer. Flipping through it, she found nothing of importance. But she then found the photo of June when she was in her thirties. Nancy gasped.

"What's the matter?" Ned asked, looking up.

"I know this person!" muttered Nancy.

Ned was confused. "What? Where?"

Nancy sighed. "Fifteen years ago. I was heading home with my mother when she got hit by a car. Nobody nearby saw the face of the attacker, but I did. But after seeing my mother die, I sealed away those horrid memories until a few days ago, when Mrs. Fontaine told us about my mom's death." She looked at June's corpse. A look of anger came across her face. "Now I remember. This woman was the one who was driving that car." Her voice trembled with fury.

"This woman was the one who killed my mother!"

* * *

**_Postscript: _Gasp! So June was the person who killed Nancy's mother? But why did she kill Mrs. Drew? And why was Nancy's pendant in the room with the victim?**

**There are more mysteries: how did the killer enter or hide in the room? To those of you who love true mysteries, this is the one for you. Frank made sure that nobody was in the room when he searched it, but then, June's body appears in a completely sealed room! How can this be possible?**

**These are few of the questions that will be answered, but they will not be answered any time soon. So far, the mystery portion of the story is disclosed, but the romance portion has yet to come. Will Frank and Nancy choose each other or their own loves back in their hometowns?**

**The mystery is just getting started. The truth is more complicated than you think. Love, hatred, revenge, and money entangle in a complex web of deceit and murder. The tragedy has just begun… Can the detectives find out the answer before the Magician claims his second victim?**

**Please review! Your opinions will be much appreciated. (Who knows? Maybe I will send you vital clues when responding to your reviews!)**

**Good luck sleuthing!**


	7. Puzzle of Her Mind

_**Foreword: **As promised, here is the sixth chapter. (Let's see… only fourteen more to go!) Here, I divided one chapter into two parts: romance and mystery. Because I know that my readers want both, I included both. That is why this chapter will be a little bit longer than the previous one._

_I started drawing graphic novels, and it's really fun! I love to draw (and my drawings aren't really bad, actually) and drew the first four pages of my new Nancy Drew mystery graphic novel! Yay! To me, the graphic novels out there don't actually depict Nancy and her chums as accurately as the novels do. Creating a graphic novel was easier than I thought. I just had to draw using pencil or pen, and I could color using Photoshop._

_I guess I included too many things in my introduction today. Anyway, read this new chapter, enjoy, and please **REVIEW**!

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**Chapter 6**

_**Puzzle of Her Mind**_

Nancy took the pendant from her pocket and clenched it tightly. Ned looked at his girlfriend with a look of empathy. "I didn't know your mother was killed," he muttered.

The girl detective opened the lid of the pendant. Her mother's face was shown, and her eyes were filled with tears. "You don't know this because you weren't with me when Frank, Joe, Bess, and I were in Seattle. Mrs. Fontaine was our mother's friend from college and told me that my mother was killed. And I thought she died of an illness all along. But I now remember the face of the killer clearly. It was June! She was the one who killed my mother!" She then started crying uncontrollably. Frank and Callie came out to see what the matter was. Ned hugged Nancy gently.

"I never lost a parent before, so I don't know how it feels to lose a loved one," he said, "but I know that something that I lost can't be brought back. And I also know that criminals always pay for the crimes they committed. If they don't get caught, then they will pay one way or the other. In this case," he looked at the body, "she paid her life for it. So please stop thinking about it, Nance. Your job right now is to catch the killer who killed the…" He then stopped, thinking about something. "Well, I guess this killer killed the killer who killed your mother."

Nancy couldn't help but laugh slightly. "You're right, Ned," she finally said, wiping away her tears. "I'm a detective now, like my mom."

But she still had something in her mind that troubled her. No, this woman wasn't the only one in the car. There was another person, sitting at the passenger's seat. But who was that person? She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember if the person was a man or a woman. Her memory was like a huge puzzle. One by one, the pieces fit into the puzzle, but at this point, the puzzle wasn't complete yet. She still needed a few more pieces to make her remember everything.

"Think, Drew," she murmured to herself, but the face of the person sitting at the passenger's seat was a huge blur. The only thing she could remember was the menacing face of June, the one who drove the car that ran over her mother…

Nancy shook the thoughts away. "No, I shouldn't be thinking about this. I should be thinking about the current case."

Then, a surprising thought came over her mind. "Wait," she murmured. "What if there was a hidden passageway here in the room?"

Ned looked at Nancy, puzzled. "Do you think there's a passageway here? Where do you think it is?"

Nancy didn't know, but she started looking. She then found out that the bed had rollers beneath its legs. Pushing it, she found out how easy it was to move the bed. It wouldn't take a man's strength to move it, she thought. Then, she looked at the ground and touched it. It was quite clean, with no dust on the floor.

"Hmm…"

After thorough search of the room, the detectives found no sign of a trapdoor. Nancy looked at the bed again. For some reason, the bed was a small one that could fit only one person. Nancy's bed could fit about two.

But she had another idea. "What about the window?" she asked. "The killer could've entered through this window after Frank went out."

The girl looked at the lock of the window. It was locked. She opened it and looked down. She saw a cliff. Sighing, she looked up. There she saw the roof of the hotel. She thought out loud. "What if the killer stayed up there on the roof till Frank left the room? Then, he entered the room with June, who was already dead, decorated the place, closed the window, and then left."

Frank interrupted, "Your ratiocination has one huge hole in it, Nancy."

Nancy turned around and looked at Frank. "Why do you say that? I don't detect any flaw in my assumption."

"Well, your reasoning is great and is quite actable, but you missed one critical thing: the weather."

The girl detective gasped.

"See? The killer, if he did what you said, would be soaking wet by the time he joined us. Even if he changed his clothes, his hair would be wet. I didn't see anybody with wet hair."

"Besides," Callie added, "Frank checked the lock of the window and said that it was locked tightly from the inside. How did the person enter through the window when it was locked? I'm sure there's no key to open it."

Nancy was mad that her inference was wrong. But she remembered that she had a question to ask Edna. Then, the girl detective went to Edna and asked why the bed in Room 13 was smaller than the one in Room 9. Edna smiled. "Each room is different," she said. "Rooms 1 through 5 and 11 through 13 are for guests who travel by themselves. Rooms 6 through 10 are for those who travel with a friend or a spouse."

Nancy asked, "Do you have a map of the hotel?"

Edna nodded. She gave one to her. Nancy noticed that the wall where the ghostly phantom disappeared was right above the kitchen. Nancy then asked, "Where do all the guests stay?"

Edna explained: "I stay in Room 1, Xavier stays in Room 2, Derek uses Room 3, Frank is staying in Room 4, Callie in Room 5, Ms. Takahashi in Room 6, Mr. Friedrich occupies Room 7, Mr. Nickerson is in Room 8, you are in Room 9, Mr. LaSalle stays in Room 10, Joe was supposed to stay in Room 11 but the room is currently unoccupied, Room 12 is Miss Yale's, and the last one is the scene of the horrid crime." She finished with a sigh. "I do hope the police will be here soon."

Nancy doubted it, for she knew that the storm wasn't going to clear for at least a day. In other words, she and the rest of the guests were stuck in the hotel with a killer who called himself "Magician". Nancy bit her lip. The locked room murder still baffled her. How did the killer get into the house without a key? If he didn't get inside with a key, then how did he stay unnoticed from Frank?

At that moment, Norma entered the lobby. She asked the owner, "Where can I get a toothbrush? I accidentally forgot mine."

Edna looked into the desk drawer and pulled out one. "Here you go."

Norma smiled. "Thanks."

Nancy looked at the woman's clothing. She wore a white T-shirt.

"Norma," she asked, "Why are you wearing a white T-shirt? I thought you wore black sweater before."

Norma looked down and smiled. "Well, I spilled some water on my sweater, so I'm wearing this instead. Besides, I don't think it's that cold."

The girl detective watched as Norma went up the stairs. Then, she went to investigate more on the murder.

Nancy looked out the window. The rain was falling harder and the lightning became more frequent. She shuddered despite the warmth in the hotel. She didn't shudder because of the temperature; she shuddered because of the thought that a ghost could be present in the hotel. If it wasn't a ghost, then how was that impossible crime committed?

Nancy decided to call her father back home. As soon as she reached the phone, it started ringing. She answered it and heard Mr. Drew's voice.

"Dad!" shouted Nancy, glad to hear her father's voice again. "You should hear what just happened!"

Listening to the tone in her daughter's voice, Mr. Drew knew that something was wrong. "What happened in the hotel?" he inquired.

Nancy told him everything; she started from the time she felt dizzy after the conversation with him to the time the body was found. Mr. Drew listened in amazement. "Murder, you say?" he asked as Nancy finished. Nancy said yes. "I would never have let you come if I knew that you'll be involved in a mystery again…"

The girl detective grinned. "Dad, you know it's inevitable. Anyway, I forgot to tell you this, but the lady who was killed, as I noticed when looking at the photograph of her when she was about fifteen years younger, was the one who ran over Mom!"

"What!" shouted Dad. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I was the only one who saw her face, but I saw it very clearly; there's no doubt about it in my mind. Someone killed the person who killed my mother, but I'm one of the suspects, since I don't have a solid alibi during the time of murder."

Mr. Drew sighed heavily. "I just hope this is the last of this murder."

Nancy didn't tell her father this, but she had a bad feeling that the killer hadn't finished his diabolical plan yet; he wouldn't stop after killing a single person when he did so much work to make the crime impossible, if it wasn't from the beginning. She knew that he would strike again, but she didn't know when. She didn't want to know.

After saying goodbye, Nancy looked at her notes she took. Then, she looked at the map. "Hmm…"

Someone knocked on the door a few minutes later. Nancy knew it was Ned when she heard the voice of the visitor. She opened the door for him and let him in.

"What is it, Ned?" she asked, closing the door behind him.

"I just wanted to know if you were okay," he answered.

"Okay?" Nancy asked, confused. "I'm as okay as ever, Ned. You should know that."

Ned smiled. "Well, I wanted to give you something, too."

It was then that Nancy noticed how Ned's right hand was brought behind his back. She was curious to know what it was. "What is it? And why are you giving it to me now?"

Ned continued to smile. "For someone with a sharp mind like you, Nancy, you don't remember much, do you?"

Nancy pretended to be angry. She brought her fists to her hip. "So what day is today?"

Her boyfriend brought his hand from behind his back, revealing a small blue box. "Okay, I'll tell you; today is the second anniversary of our first meeting."

Nancy gasped. "Oh, I never thought about that!" It was true. Two years before, the girl sleuth and her boyfriend first met at a burning house. The mystery would later turn out to be called _The Clue in the Diary_. Nancy looked at the box. Opening it, she found a bracelet made of pure gold chains. She looked up at Ned, too surprised to utter a word. On the bracelet were the words: Nancy Drew, the world's finest detective.

Ned's grin broadened. "Well, this was the best I could afford from my part time jobs. I thought about a necklace or a diamond ring, but I couldn't buy them."

A tear rolled down the girl's cheek. "Thanks, Ned," she said, wiping her tear away. "I…it's the best gift I ever received." She clipped the bracelet around her wrist and observed it with fascination.

The night went on gloomily. It felt like the storm wasn't blowing just outside the hotel, for the guests weren't speaking to each other anymore and the tension grew as they sat in their rooms, vindictive.

The hotel was as silent as the outside was noisy. Only the sound of wind from the storm blowing into the closed windows was heard, and the mood got gloomier by the second. A huge cloud of fear was covering the mansion and the guests within. Callie was in her room, which was right by the dining room, and sighed as she looked out the window. The storm wasn't about to clear in less than forty-eight hours. She looked down at the book which she was reading. Opening the book, she looked at the picture. She used that picture as a bookmark for a long time. It showed Callie with Frank. They were still in their early teens, and Callie was smiling radiantly at the camera while Frank was grinning mischievously.

She was nervous. She knew that Frank was interested in Nancy from the time he met her. Nancy and Frank were solving many mysteries together while Callie was in Bayport waiting for Frank to come back. And now, she is here with Frank, but she is still nervous. To tell the truth, she never solved a crime by herself in her life. She was always tagging along Frank and Joe when they investigated. But Nancy was a different story. She always solved mysteries in, around, and out of her hometown of River Heights. And ever since she and Frank first met, she liked him. He liked her.

Callie grunted as she closed the book. She shook her head. Her curly blonde hair bobbed as she did so. She opened her mouth and sighed. Standing up, she went to her bed and lay on it. If Frank was truly interested in Nancy, then he would never think about Callie. Callie was just a girl from Bayport, just like any other girls. Iola would never be ignored, for she was the sister of Chet, the boys' best friend. But what about her? She wasn't anybody special, just a girl whom Frank knew and played with since they were little. For many years, they went to school together, ate in the cafeteria together, but she never asked if Frank really liked her.

"Does he?" she pondered. "Does he really like me or just hanging around with be because we knew each other for years?"

She closed her eyes. Only one thing repeated in her head as she tried to sleep: "Who does Frank like? Me or Nancy?"

When she was about to fall into a deep slumber, something caught her attention. Outside, a person was laughing hysterically. She was a little scared by this, but she then got out of the bed, ready to check what the laughing was about.

She got to the window and stared out. The weather was still not improving, and she thought that the laughter was only in her mind. As she turned around to go back to the bed, she heard someone knock on the window. When she reached the bed, she turned around, wondering who it was. Then, she saw it.

A masked man was staring at her through the window.

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_**Postscript: **Who could the mysterious masked man be? What will happen to Callie? Will Frank choose Nancy over her? What will happen? Read the next chapter to find out!_

_As always, if you find any errors or vagueness in the story, feel free to tell me in your review. I admit that I am still a student and have a long way to go till I can be a professional writer, so if you could tell me a few comments, I will appreciate that._

_Oh, and don't forget to **review**!_


	8. Midnight Visitor

**_Foreword: _I'm almost halfway finished with this story! Just 12 more chapters... Well, here is the newest addition to the story. The masked person visits Callie as she goes to bed, but who is this man? Here is the first challenge for you as the readers. At the end of this chapter, I will give you a cryptic message. Try to see if you can figure it out. If you did, e-mail me or send me a message before I update again. The answer to the code will be given next chapter. Also, there will be a second code waiting for you in Chapter 8. Have fun cracking the code! Oh, and please _REVIEW!__

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**Chapter 7**

_**Midnight Visitor**_

Callie screamed at the top of her lungs. Her mysterious visitor then disappeared as the frightened girl ran to the door. When she opened it, she bumped into Frank, who stayed in the room right next to hers.

"What's the matter?" he asked, concerned. Callie noticed that he was in his pajamas and was wearing a pair of slippers. He asked one more time what was wrong, for Callie was still breathing faster than usual.

"It was a ghost!" answered Callie, finally finding her voice. "I saw it, Frank! A masked man was staring at me through the window!"

Frank immediately went into the room and opened the window. As he looked up, he saw nobody, and as he looked down, he saw only the rough ocean waves hitting the rocks beneath the hotel. He turned toward Callie. "Was that true? Did you really see him?"

Callie nodded, still shaking a little. "He wore a white mask and a magician's hat."

"Is he really a man?" Frank asked.

When she heard that question, Callie stopped and thought for a moment. "I can't be sure. He—or she—had a mask on and the weather was too dark and I was too far away to distinguish the color of the eyes or hair."

Frank sighed. "Well, close the curtains this time and try not to wake everybody up in the middle of the night, okay?"

Callie nodded. But then they saw all the other guests in front of the door with curious expressions on their faces. "What was that scream about?" asked Ned, sleepily. Callie blushed slightly.

"Sorry about that. I saw someone out there. He had a mask and a chapeau!" answered Callie once more.

Edna gasped. "Oh, my! That must be Alphonse Piermont! The magician had the mask on as well!"

Everyone's gaze was on Edna.

"But why did he have the mask on?" asked Norma.

Henri grinned. "Perhaps I can answer that." And everyone's gaze went to him instead. Like a storyteller, he leant against the wall and started telling the haunting tale of the cursed magician…

_It was early April in the year 1889. Alphonse Piermont was one of the most popular magicians in the world, far more popular at that time than Houdini would be during his time. He did almost any sort of magic, from making the card which a member of the audience chose float out of a deck of cards when he never took a glimpse at the card itself to making one of the audience disappear into thin air after locking him in a box and making him reappear wearing the magician's coat and hat and the magician in that man's coat. All of his magic tricks were out of this world._

_But on that day in early April, when he practiced by himself to get ready for the next big performance in May, the fire ring which he was practicing with got on his cape. Then, in the next moment, the fire swept through his body! He didn't die, but his face was badly burnt. He was so ugly he decided to wear a mask so the audience wouldn't know of his accident._

_Years later, he died in this same mansion. Nobody knew why he died, for he was found in his room dead. He was never ill, but he_ _had a sudden heart attack and died in his sleep._

_Ever since that day, the owners of this mansion had either heard or saw the spirit of the magician walking through the halls and around this very mansion…_

As the Frenchman finished his tale, the guests were silent. Nancy was curious about him, though. How did he find so much information on the mysterious magician who died almost a hundred years ago?

When the guests started to leave, the girl detective noticed that Gary was taking notes on the story which Henri told. He had a strange look on his face that combined a look of sheer horror and a grin of sheer delight. Nancy couldn't help wondering why he made such a face even after she was in her bed.

Callie was still shaking, but she managed to fall asleep that night. But she still woke up a few times that night, scared even by the sound of raindrops hitting the windowpane.

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When she opened her eyes, Callie saw the digital clock that blinked right before her face. It showed 7:05 AM. Yawning, the blond girl sat up and touched her hair. Feeling that her hair was standing up slightly, she went to the bathroom and took a short shower which refreshed her and made her forget the horrible incident that took place in her hotel room the night before. It was very foggy outside, but the storm was over. 

As Callie Shaw got to the dining room, she found that Frank, Nancy, and Ned were already there. She saw Frank, who was sitting next to Nancy, talking intently about something. Ned was sitting across the table from Nancy, obviously not enjoying how Nancy and Frank talked with each other. A sudden feeling of jealousy came over Callie's mind, and she went to the empty seat next to Frank. Sitting down, she turned to Frank. "So, what are you two talking about?"

Nancy smiled and answered, "We were just talking about how to spend the afternoon. I said that investigating inside the house could help us solve the case faster, but Frank suggests investigating outside. What do you think, Callie?"

Callie didn't dislike the girl detective, but she found it awfully hard to like the tone of the girl detective's voice, especially in the presence of Frank.

"Well," she answered, "I think we should talk to Edna. In the cases Frank and Joe solved in the past, most of the houses that were haunted turned out to be fakes. People made the house look haunted so they could drive the owners of those houses away. And in this case, I think that someone is trying to get Edna to pack up and leave."

Frank beamed at the remark. "That's it!" he shouted. "That's just it, Callie! We might get more information from the hotel owner, who knows more about this hotel than anybody else. Great thinking!"

Callie smiled. It was great to be praised by Frank, and she found herself blushing slightly. The weather outside was much better, and the sun was beginning to shine through the clouds.

"Did you call the police yet?" Callie asked.

Frank nodded. "They said that even though the storm is almost cleared out, there have been numerous landslides occurring on the path from the nearby city to this hotel. Because the fog outside is as thick as cotton, the boat can't help and neither can a helicopter. Since the path leading to the hotel is full of landslides, the police need to clean them up. They speculate that it may take another day or two to clear all of the dirt up. But they also said that something was strange about the landslides."

Confused, Ned asked, "What was strange about them?"

"They found a huge hole in the part of the mountain just above the path that was blocked due to a landslide. The police said that a person might have been blowing up the mountains and creating the landslides."

"But why?" asked Callie. "Why would a person want us sealed in this hotel?"

"It might be the murderer," a voice said from the direction of the door. Startled, everyone in the room turned to look. It was Henri. "He—or she—might want to keep us here because the bloody magic show in which we were forced to attend wasn't over yet. I think that it will continue. I can tell that the curtains haven't come down completely."

Nancy looked at the man suspiciously. "Henri, I never quite understood one thing: why did you come here? This isn't a spa resort and this isn't a grand vacation spot. Why did you come to stay here, in a hotel that's far away from civilization?"

Henri stared at her with his two icy blue eyes and smiled. "I got the invitation," he finally said. Taking out a piece of paper, he handed it out to the detectives. "It arrived in my mailbox a week ago. I thought it was strange but came here, since I had always been interested in this particular hotel built by a Quebecois magician…"

Frank read the message on the card. "Dear Mr. Henri LaSalle," he read. "I would like to invite you to the Piermont Hotel in Maine, built by a Quebecois magician Alphonse Piermont. It would be my pleasure to be with you at the hotel. Sincerely," he looked at the name, "Tim Prone."

"Tim Prone?" Callie said confusedly. "There isn't a person in here named Tim Prone."

Frank looked at the name for a few seconds and looked up. He noticed that Henri was grinning slightly. He looked down at the paper and grinned as well. "I get it," he said, chuckling. "It's a simple anagram puzzle. See, if you arrange the letters in the name differently, you'll see a whole new name." He took out a sheet of paper and wrote down TIMPRONE on it. Then, he crossed out the P and wrote the letter right beneath it. Then, he crossed out I and wrote it next to the P. He then crossed out E and wrote that beside I. In less than a few seconds, the detectives saw the name: PIERMONT.

"Piermont!" exclaimed Nancy. "That's the name of the magician!"

Henri nodded. "Therefore, I don't know who sent me this letter and wanted to find out, so I came here."

At that moment, Edna entered the room and smiled. "Well, I see you people are early birds! I called Derek to make breakfast before I came. He must be in here by now."

Derek then burst into the room and into the kitchen. He bowed slightly toward the detectives and closed the door leading to the kitchen. After the door was closed, Nancy looked at Edna. "Edna, could you tell us why someone would want to make this hotel look haunted?"

Edna seemed surprised to hear this, but she sat down and sighed. "I can say that there is a huge reason behind this. The only reason I can think of is because there is a treasure hidden in or around this hotel somewhere."

"Treasure?" asked Callie, her eyes getting rounder. "How do you know there is a treasure here?"

Edna grinned. She excused herself and went into her room. After a few minutes later, she returned carrying an old book. The book itself was as old as the mansion itself. The hotel owner opened the book and showed the detectives and Henri the first page. The page had these words written on it: "Property of Alphonse Piermont."

"Is it… his journal?" asked Frank. Edna nodded.

"I found it one day when I was cleaning the hotel. I was curious and read the first entry. There, he stated that he hid a treasure in the hotel and the land surrounding it. He didn't say where the treasure was hidden, but he did give a clue."

The book was written in English, but the words were messy and hard to read. However, Nancy managed to make out a few sentences:

"The treasure is hidden in a place only I know of, but I will give you a clue. Ignore the fake, and you shall find my hint."

Under those sentences was a cryptic code. "What is this?" she murmured. She read the letters out loud: "**COHLTR, LNILHA, UTTAEN, EHEREC, IEPANE, SWITTS**." Each of the six groups of six letters was divided by a comma. This message confused Nancy, but she immediately knew that it was a special kind of code.

"What kind of code is this?" muttered Callie, staring at the six group of letters written in one straight line. She looked at Frank. "Do you think you can decode this using that software Joe invented?"

She referred to the DeCrypto software, which helped the detectives a lot when cracking a coded message in the Hardys and Nancy's first adventure together, titled _Missing in Action_. Frank looked at the message and shrugged.

"Who knows? I will go and check, but I have a feeling that Piermont didn't want people to think that this was a complex code. After all, he didn't have computers when he created this code." But he went into his room and tried the program. After a few minutes of beeping, the software put out an error message.

"I knew it," muttered Frank, exiting the program. "I can't do it. There are far too few clues!"

Nancy thought about it for a few more minutes. She then sat down with a pencil and a sheet of paper. She started scribbling.

In his room, Henri LaSalle opened his laptop and turned the switch on. Later, he opened one of the files on the screen. A new window popped up and showed a blond boy standing beside an adult. The blond boy had the icy blue eyes, and the adult had the same pair of eyes. The man who the boy stood with had a dark blond hair and a smile on his face. He then opened another file. This time, a black-and-white picture appeared on the screen. The file was labeled "Alphonse Piermont, circa 1896."

The man in the black-and-white picture looked exactly like the man in the other picture.

Henri sighed and stood up. He picked up the glass which was placed next to the laptop. Pouring water into the cup, he drank the water up and threw the glass forcefully into the ground. It shattered with a deafening sound. Then, he sat down on the bed.

"Wait till I get my hands on you," he muttered angrily. He looked at the weather outside.

"It'll be a long day."

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**_Postscript: _What can the weird message possibly mean? Who sent the letter to Henri? Or was Henri faking the whole thing? What does he mean when he said the last line in this chapter?**

**And again, if you figure out the code, please e-mail or send a message to me. Come back again later to read what happens next in the story, what the answer is, and what the next code looks like:-)**

**Happy sleuthing! _Please review_!**


	9. Storm Returns

**_Foreword: _I'm glad to announce that two of my readers have understood and cracked the code! Actually, I must admit, I just copied the method from Dan Brown's _Digital Fortress_, so it's not actually my original. But the second code which I will introduce in this chapter is my own. The code may seem complex when you look at it, but it actually is not. However, I cannot state the answer to the second code in the next chapter, since I need to continue the story. (And I'm pretty sure you want to read a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys mystery, not a book filled with codes and meaningless junks.) Making and solving all these codes makes me think of playing the Nancy Drew computer games :-) By the way, if you get the chance, you might want to borrow the CD-ROM from the local libraries (I'm sure they have the Nancy Drew games on their shelves) and spend a few hours divulged in Nancy's mystery! My recommendation is "Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon." It's the newest game and has the Hardy boys in it. But my second favorite is "Treasure in the Royal Tower," which features a creepy (well, not really, but it's really cool) castle in Wisconsin (that was brought from France to US, by the way). It was the first ND game I've ever tried, and I loved it right away! The characters are great, the music is stupendous, and the setting is quite mysterious. So, if you have a few hours to spare, try them!**

**Oh, I almost forgot...please _REVIEW_!**

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Chapter 8

_**Storm Returns**_

Nancy tried the clue for about half an hour.

"Could it be like the code that I cracked when Frank, Joe, George, Ned, and I were in Miami?" she murmured. She remembered the second case she worked with the Hardys, titled _Ocean of Deceit_. In that mystery, she and the other detectives came across a cryptic message that was as baffling as this one. However, when she tried that format, it didn't work. The format which she tried was reading every other letter in the sentence.

"CHT, LIH, UTE, EEE, IPN, SIT… No, that doesn't work. What about the other way? OLR, NLA, TAN, HRC, EAE, WTS… That doesn't work, either. The only words that I can distinguish are Ute, sit, and tan. And they don't seem to mean anything, either."

She scratched her titian-blonde head. "So how should I do it?"

After a while, she thought of something. "Wait a minute… If I take the first letters of each group, I get the letters CLUEIS. That's 'Clue is'! I get it! I'm supposed to write each of the sequence vertically, starting from the left side!"

She got started. First, she wrote down COHLTR vertically on her sheet of paper. Then, right next to it, she wrote down LNILHA. Then, UTTAEN, and so on. When she was done, the paper looked like this:

CLUEIS  
ONTHEW  
HITEPI  
LLARAT  
THEENT  
RANCES

Then, when she was finished, she grinned.

"That's it," she muttered happily. She read the message from left to right: "'Clue is on the white pillar at the entrances.'"

Ned, Frank, and Callie looked up from their laptop, "Did you crack the code?" asked Frank.

Nancy nodded. "I sure did." She then told them of her accomplishment. Ned nodded as he listened to her explanations.

"Great job, Nance!" he said with a smile. "You're the smartest code cracker I've ever seen!"

Nancy blushed. "Well, I guess we should go see the pillar at the entrance. Maybe the second clue can tell us where the treasure is!"

The detectives then went to the front of the hotel. The detectives went to the pillar. The wind was as terrible as ever, and Callie's hat was almost blown to the ocean waves below the hotel! "There it is," said Frank, feeling the wall. "We should make a rubbing." He then took out a sheet of paper and lightly sketched on the sheet with his paper. Words appeared in less than ten seconds.

Back inside, the detectives looked at the message in awe.

"What do you thing _this _means?" asked Callie, looking at Frank. "To me, this looks like a bunch of numeric gibberish."

The girl was right. This code was harder to break than the other one, for it was composed of many numbers each followed by a letter:

**17e, 8i, 23w, 5i, 25y, 11s, 21h, 9n, 16l, 4a, 12h, 20t, 14l, 18a, 2y, 15l, 22e, 24a, 1m, 6n, 13a, 3p, 10g, 7t, 19d.**

Callie groaned. "Ugh. This magician sure likes puzzles, doesn't he?"

Frank stared at the letters. "These numbers must have something to do with decoding this message. But I'm not sure what to do."

"We can think about this code later," said Nancy. "I think we should be more concerned about the murder."

"But we all know that it's impossible!" said Callie. "The killer couldn't have entered the room."

"But I need to check something," said Nancy.

The detectives headed up to Room 13. Nancy checked the doorknob. Then, she checked the wall. "Well, I don't see any trace of special equipment."

"Of course not!" said Callie. "I personally checked the doorknob myself! It was perfectly locked!"

"So the killer could not have entered the room because he didn't have the key. That leaves one explanation; the killer was already in the room when Frank checked it."

Frank interrupted, "But there is no place in here that would let a full-grown adult hide. I even checked the cabinet under the sink in the bathroom. There was nobody there in the room when I went in."

Nancy looked at the bed. "Did you check under the bed?"

"No, but I knew that a person couldn't fit in there. The space under the mattress is only wide enough to let a cat in, not a person."

Nancy checked the bed. Frank was true; the space under the bed was too narrow for even a nine-year-old to crawl in.

The girl detective got up and turned around. The room was bare of any cabinet. There wasn't even a TV in the room. And she looked up. There was nothing on the ceiling, and it was impossible for a person to somehow stick to the ceiling like a ninja in TV shows. She checked the floor. It was finely carpeted, but she could find no trapdoor. Also, there was only one suitcase in the entire room, which was still too small to fit even a toddler. She looked at the detectives.

"I guess it's impossible for a person to hide in here. You did check the spaces behind the doors, didn't you?"

Frank nodded. "Of course. That's the most basic trick, actually, and Joe used to do that a lot when we were playing hide-and-seek when we were kids."

Nancy scratched her head, puzzled, when a voice made her turn around. It was Edna's. She was asking Nancy to come to the front desk.

As the girl detective went to the lobby, Edna told her: "I just received a phone call from your father. It seems that he has news to tell you."

Nancy was excited. What news could her father have for her?"

The girl detective went to the telephone immediately and listened. "Dad?"

"Nancy!" exclaimed Mr. Drew. "Where were you? I called your room but you weren't there!"

"I woke up early, so I went downstairs. Anyway, what were you planning to tell me?"

Mr. Drew paused for a minute, as if he was searching through his files, and continued, "I found the file about Mrs. Milton. It says here in my file that she had two children, a boy and a girl, before her demise."

Nancy asked sarcastically, "And they are dead, too, aren't they?"

Mr. Drew chuckled and said, "No, they aren't. At least I think they aren't. The thing is, the boy, James Milton, was seven and the girl, Diana Milton, was five when their mother was killed. They were actually in the house when Mrs. Milton was killed, but they didn't see the killer's face. And the killer didn't see them, either, but to assure their safety, the police put them under the witness protection program."

"Witness protection program?"

"Yes, Nancy. That's the program where the witness to a crime is protected from the culprits and the people who might seek revenge. Those children changed their names and identity. Right now, I'm sure they're living peacefully in a town or city somewhere, but I don't know where that is."

Nancy sighed. "Isn't there a way to find out their identity?"

Mr. Drew sighed also. "I'm afraid not. The government is very strict when it comes to handing out private information about an individual to a person who is not a family of the individual. It could take me years to get that information."

Frustrated, Nancy said, "What about the other members in Mrs. Milton's side of the family? Didn't she have a sister or brother? Or even a step-brother?"

"No, I'm afraid. As long as I know, these people are the only living relatives. Mr. and Mrs. Milton were the only children of parents who were the only children as well. I don't see any file about remarriage and adoption, so I'm quite sure that the boy and the girl are the only living relatives that they have."

"Okay… Thanks a lot. Call me if you have any more information, okay?"

"Okay, Nancy. Bye!"

As Mr. Drew hung up, Nancy continued to brainstorm. She still had a bad feeling that the murder show wasn't over. But she didn't know who was going to be killed yet. She then looked up.

"I have to talk to the guests," she concluded.

She went back to the dining room and told her friends about her findings. They agreed to talk to the suspects with her right after breakfast.

When the clock showed 8:10 AM, the guests came into the dining room. Silently, they ate their breakfast and left after they finished.

"Okay," said Nancy, right after she made sure that the detectives were the only ones in the dining room, "to speed up the investigation, we should go in two groups. Ned and I will talk with Amy, Derek, Gary, and Xavier. Frank, you and Callie should talk to Edna, Henri, and Norma."

"Got it," Frank replied, jotting down the names. He and Callie left the room and went to talk to the three suspects. Nancy and Ned then went to talk to the four remaining suspects.

The first one whom they talked to was Amy. The Japanese artist answered Nancy and Ned's knocks with a slight grunt. But when she saw the two, she smiled a forced smile. "Hi," she said with a slight Japanese accent. "Come on in."

In the room, the artist gave them each a cup of tea which she was brewing just then. She sat down and took her own cup. "What was it that you wanted to ask me?"

Nancy and Ned looked at each other, and Nancy opened her notebook that contained a list of things to ask. "Um… Did you know June before coming to this hotel?"

Amy seemed quite surprised, but her voice remained calm and steady. "Well, yes. You see, she and I are both artists, and we sometimes see each other at each other's exhibits. The reason I know her is because she and I share the same interest: ghosts and the supernatural."

The painter sipped from her cup. "She was a wonderful photographer, who seemed interested in taking pictures of deserted and yet quite fascinating houses. Some of them, she stated, contained unexplained blotches and lines. Let's see…" She then reached into her bag. The artist then took out a book. Opening it to a certain page, she showed the detectives the picture that was on the page.

Nancy took a look, but the only thing she saw was the picture of an old mansion located next to a waterfall.

"Did you see it?" asked Amy.

Nancy looked at Ned. He shrugged, and she answered no. In an instant, a look of sheer disappointment came across the painter's face. "Well, if you see here," she said, pointing to the blank space between the mansion and the waterfall, "you can see a face looking towards you. See? If you look here, this is the eye and this is the nose and…"

The girl detective squinted as much as she could, but all she saw was a random formation of leaves. "Um… I guess that's all for now, thank you for your time." Then, she and her boyfriend left the room as quickly as they could. Once outside, Nancy sighed. "To me, she sounds like a complete maniac."

Ned grinned. "Got that right."

But as she looked out the window, the girl detective suddenly gasped.

Outside, there was an enormous gray cloud forming just miles from the house. The cloud was so huge and dark, she couldn't help shuddering.

"The storm is coming back," she muttered.

As the girl detective and her companion left, the Japanese artist looked at her laptop. Quickly, she went to it and shut it down. Then, she took out a notebook with black leather cover and opened it. Taking out a pen, she started scribbling. Finished, she looked up at the window.

"All according to the plan," she muttered with a grin.

"I can't wait..."

* * *

**_Postscript: _What did Amy mean when she said the last quote in the chapter? Why does everybody seem to have a secret of some sort? Will the detectives be trapped in the storm again? There is only one truth, but can the detectives unveil it before time runs out? Read the next installment to find out!**

**Don't forget to review, by the way. I really like hearing from my readers.**

**To those of you who are wondering if I'm a N/F or N/N fan, well, I can't tell just yet. Sure, I had Nancy stay with Ned for the last three novels, but--who knows?--I may change my style of writing. You'll just have to read to the last sentence of this story (yes, I do mean the very last sentence and the last word of the story) to find out if Nancy will stay in the cozy hometown with Ned or go venture the unknowns with Frank. I'm sorry if youare confused about my position, but this is the way I write, and as a mystery writer, I need to conceal the truth till the very last moment :-)**

**Hope you'll continue enjoying this story! I _will _guarantee surprises and twists in the second half of the novel.**

**James Stapleton**


	10. Secrets to Hide

**_Foreword: _Congrats to those who have cracked the second code! Even though I received a message from one person, I'm sure that there are many more people who had the wits to crack the code. So, if you still haven't sent me your answer yet, don't hesitate to do so! Or, if you don't have an account yet, then... Well, you'll need to get one:-)  
**

**Anyway, I won't be able to tell you the answer to the code just yet, but I'll be continuing the mystery for the next few chapters. There will be plenty of clues lying around, and your detective skills will be tested. In this chapter and the next, there will be quite a few clues (but can you find them?). Well, here is the newest chapter, and I guarantee that some of you will be anxious to read more when you read the end of this chapter!**

**

* * *

Chapter 9**

_**Secrets to Hide**_

Ned looked out the window as well. "Do you think we should search outside now? If the storm starts again, we'll never be able to get out!"

His girlfriend looked at her watch. "We still got plenty of time left. I need to check out many things, if you don't mind."

"Like what?"

Nancy shrugged. "Anything. This mystery is more challenging than the last three combined! Besides," she added, turning to Ned, "no human being is perfect. It's nearly impossible for a person to commit a crime and not leave any evidence behind."

The two went to the next room. Derek opened the door when the detectives knocked. "Hi, guys!" he said, grinning. "Enjoying the morning?" He was brushing his teeth before the detectives came, for in his mouth was a toothbrush.

Nancy smiled. "I just need to check a few things. If possible, I need to talk to you about your connection with the dead photographer."

Derek took the toothbrush out of his mouth and looked grim. "No, I've never seen her in my life. I mean, not personally. I've seen her on TV a lot, considering how famous she is…"

Nancy nodded. "Well, what do you know about her?"

"She's been in the news a lot lately. It seems like she had been making a scandal about one of the pictures she took. Said there was a ghost in some of them."

"And do you believe her?"

Derek laughed out loud. "Me? Of course not! The only thing that frightens me is Xavier's face. You should take a look when he's angry and all. I can swear you've never seen anything scarier."

Ned asked, "How well do you know Xavier, then?"

"I worked here for only a month. That old man was here for ages, it seems. He was hired as a gardener when the last owner was in this house."

"Last owner?"

"Yeah. The lady who was here before died, and he changed from a gardener to a caretaker. I'm not sure why he did that. I mean, caretaking isn't the most high-paying jobs out there."

Nancy giggled. "Well, thanks for your time."

The detectives then went to Xavier's room. He seemed very cross when he opened the door. "What?"

"Oh, Mr. Churchill," Nancy started, "I'd like to know if you've met the victim before."

"Met?" Xavier asked. He then grimaced. "No. Never seen her."

"Oh. Okay," said Nancy. She wasn't convinced at all. "So could you tell us about…"

"Look, I have nothing to tell you. Good day."

The man then shut the door. Nancy and Ned looked at each other and shrugged. "I guess he's not a people-person," said Ned. Nancy agreed.

The last person they interviewed was Gary Friedrich. The writer answered the knock. As he saw Nancy, his smile suddenly disappeared, and he asked, "What do you want?"

Nancy and Ned asked if Gary knew June from before. He hesitated for a moment, as if thinking about something. "No, I haven't. I have never seen her before."

"But did you even hear about her before?" asked Nancy.

"No." He turned around. "Please leave. I must finish the eighth chapter by tonight."

Nancy and Ned nodded and left. As the door was closed, Gary turned around and stared at the door. He suddenly grunted and tossed his cell phone onto his bed.

Frank and Callie went to the front desk to talk to Edna. "Edna," started Callie, "have you ever seen the victim before now?"

Edna nodded. "Sure. She was very famous, and I often saw her on TV."

"No," said Frank. "We mean if you have actually met her before."

"Well, come to think of it, no."

"Then why do you think she came to stay in this hotel?" asked Callie.

Edna thought for a moment and shook her head. "I have no idea. I think it was because of the haunting that made to the local newspaper and to some of the websites online. I guess she saw those articles and decided to stay in a real haunted house for a change."

Frank grinned. "Well, thanks for your help."

"Any time," Edna returned. "Please tell me the news and whether you've found the murderer or not. I don't want to stay in this hotel with a killer for another minute!"

Callie nodded. "You'll be the first one to know."

The couple then visited Henri after that. They asked the usual questions to him. For the one about his meeting June before, the reporter answered yes.

"Really?" asked Callie, surprised.

"I'm a reporter," said Henri. "I once went to her house to interview her for a certain article that talked about her recent photographs."

"What article?" asked Frank.

"The article said that an anonymous caller was calling the publishing company, saying how June stole his photographs and entered them into the national contest in which she got a grand prize."

Callie was intrigued. "Could that person have killed June for her stealing his photograph?"

"I doubt it," answered Henri. "The money which she won was only six thousand dollars. I'm not sure if people are willing to kill a person just for that amount of money."

"I see…" muttered the blond girl. Henri stood up and closed the laptop.

"Hm?" Frank thought. He glimpsed a file that was on the desktop. The file was named: "Drew."

"Could this file be about Nancy?" the detective thought. But he didn't want to tell Henri that. He might raise a suspicion. After all, Henri was just a suspect.

The next and the last person was Norma. She welcomed the detectives inside when they went to her room.

"I'm so glad you could pass by," she said. "So did you find any clue? I want to help as much as possible, since I don't like to be trapped in a creepy old hotel for too long. In fact, I try not to think about it."

"So did you meet the victim before yesterday?" asked Frank, taking out his pen.

"No, she's a total stranger. I'm not really into the photography thing, you know. I'd rather read a thriller than see a picture."

"Okay," muttered Frank, writing that into the notebook as well. "Well, I think that's it." As he got ready to get up, he noticed a framed photograph placed next to the bed on the nightstand. The photograph had a young girl, an older boy, a man, and a woman in it. "Is that…"

Norma suddenly stood up and picked the photograph up. "This is my most prized picture… These people are my parents. This boy is my brother, and this girl is me. My mother and father divorced when my brother and I were very young, and I was raised by my father while my brother was raised by our mother. I have talked to them for a long time…" She suddenly looked at the clock and placed the picture facedown onto the stand. "Well, look at the time! I have to finish my work now. Bye!"

As the detectives left the room, they decided to meet Nancy and Ned. "I hope they got more clues than we did," muttered Callie.

However, they didn't. Both teams were in a dead end, and the handful of leads was nearly useless.

"So what should we do now?" asked Frank.

Nancy brainstormed on the facts. "We should see the roof," she finally stated.

"The roof?" asked Callie.

"Yeah. We might get a clue there, since that's the only place where we didn't search. Maybe there might still be a footprint or two, if the killer did use the roof to go from room to room."

The detectives went to the roof. Nancy was amazed to see how beautiful the view was. Even though most of the world outside was covered with thick fogs, the white blanket made it look as though she was in a dream. The mist was very thick, but the sound of birds chirping could be heard from a few hundred yards away. The place was just like a dreamland, with fogs covering every square foot of the outside world, blanketing and protecting the mansion with the mighty fist.

"Wow!" muttered Callie. "This is beautiful!"

Ned groaned. "This is just a fog. What's so beautiful about it?"

The detectives started searching. Each of the four members searched each corner for clues. Because the fog was so thick, they needed to crouch down in order to find traces of dirt on the roof.

After nearly thirty minutes of searching, they concluded that there was nothing on the roof.

"I guess your hypothesis was wrong," said Callie, facing Nancy.

Nancy shrugged. "Oh, well. We'll just need to search somewhere else."

As the detectives got ready to leave, Callie stepped on a rock that was on the roof and lost her balance.

"Ah!" she screamed.

"What the…" Frank muttered. He turned around and tried to see if Callie was alright. But it was useless; the fog prevented him to see something that was even a foot away from him. "Darn it! Callie!"

Then, there was a sudden bump. Callie had fallen and hit her head on the roof. Now, there was the sound of something slipping.

"Callie!" shouted Frank.

It was no use. Callie didn't answer, and he knew that she was unconscious and slipping from the roof.

"Where are you?"

Nancy noticed that something was wrong and went toward Frank. Callie was nowhere in sight. Then, Frank closed his eyes and concentrated on where the slipping sound came from.

"There!"

The dark-haired detective went to the part of the roof that faced north. He saw Callie's shirt and reached out for her.

He made it. He had found her hand and grabbed it. Frank was not a second too soon, for at that instant, Callie's body fell from the roof.

Things didn't seem very well. Frank was holding Callie's hand with his left hand, which was his weaker one. Because of the sweat, his hand was slippery, and Callie's hand started slipping by the second.

"Frank!" Nancy shouted, helping Frank. She reached out and grabbed Callie's wrist. Then, Frank lost the grip, and the girl detective was holding the blond girl by her self, only with her right hand.

At that instant, Nancy, too, lost her grip, and Callie started to fall.

"No!"

Frank shouted and reached out with his right hand as far as he could, hoping to catch Callie's hand.

He missed.

* * *

_**Foreword: **_**Oh no! Another Callie-might-die situation! Will she survive? How will she live?**

**Next chapter: _Return of the Detective_...**

**As you might have guessed from the title, the certain _someone_ who disappeared in the first few chapters of the novel will reappear! Do you know who that is...? **


	11. Return of the Detective

**_Foreword: _Sorry for the long wait! I've been very busy for the last few weeks. Now, it's spring break, and I'd love to work on the story more. Here is the newest chapter. What will happen to Callie who fell off the roof at the end of the previous chapter? Who can save her when Frank and Nancy missed? Will Joe come back and join the other detectives? Or will he does an investigation by himself in the town? To find out more, read this chapter! And don't forget to _review_!

* * *

**

**Chapter 10**

_**Return of the Detective**_

"Callie!" Frank shouted as he missed his girlfriend's hand.

The detective watched helplessly as the hand fell and disappeared into the misty fog.

No! he shouted in his mind. I missed! I missed her!

Devastated, he smashed his fist into the roof, but just a moment after he saw the hand disappear, he heard another sound from below.

"What?"

Nancy heard the sound, too, and stood up. She went down the ladder and into the hotel. She turned around the corner to the place right under the part where Callie had fallen. There, she saw Callie. She was lying on the floor, and a person sat next to her, gasping for air.

It was Ned.

"Ned!" Nancy shouted in glee. "You did it! You caught her in time!"

Frank went to the spot and saw what Ned had done. He immediately went to Callie and slapped her cheeks lightly. "Callie? Callie?"

The blond girl slowly started to open her eyes. "F…Frank…"

"She's okay!" Nancy shouted happily. "I'm so glad, Frank!"

Frank looked at Ned and grinned. "Thanks a lot, Ned."

Ned smiled. "It wasn't easy. When I heard Callie slip, I immediately went down the ladder and to the window right under the spot. I reached the window just as I saw her feet dangling in midair. I reached for it, but then, she started falling, so I reached out more and managed to get her wrist. Fortunately, I wasn't too late."

Callie opened her eyes completely and hugged Frank. "Oh, Frank!" she shouted. "I thought I was going to fall into the ocean for sure!"

"But I didn't save you," said Frank. "You should thank Ned for that. He caught you just when I missed your hand."

Callie turned to Ned. With a broad grin, she said, "Thanks, Ned."

Nancy saw Ned blush just the slightest bit, and felt uncomfortable.

The detectives then decided to call it the day. They were doing more detective work than they had in mind, and it was already time for lunch.

During lunch, the hotel's guests each ate in silence, while the hotel staff and the detectives talked.

Amy finished the lunch first and went upstairs, saying that she would skip dessert. Then, Henri went up. After eating dessert, Norma was the first to go back to her room, and the caretaker, Xavier, exited the dining room right after her.

Now, the only people left were Nancy, Ned, Callie, Frank, Edna, and Derek. Edna asked, "So how is the investigation going?"

"Not so good," answered Frank. "We're still baffled about the murder."

"Well, I thought you might want to know that Joe just called. He's regained consciousness."

Frank looked up with surprise. "Really? Did he sound okay?"

"He sounded quite mad that he missed all the excitement, but other than that, I think he is as good as ever." Edna smiled. "Of course, he's also very curious about this case. If you don't call him soon, I think the excitement might make his injury worse!"

Frank went to the lobby and dialed Joe's cell phone number. After ringing thrice, someone answered. It was Joe.

"Joe!" Frank called. "How is your head?"

"As good as ever. You didn't think that a puny truck can injure my head, did you?" answered Joe teasingly. "Anyway, I'm really jealous because you guys have been enjoying all the juicy mystery while I was in this smelly old hospital because of my stupid injury. I said that I can go to the hotel, but the doctor said no. He said that the road was filled with avalanches. I said that I can go by boat, but he said that it was too foggy outside. So I was forced to stay in this room doing absolutely nothing."

"Wow, that's too bad," murmured Frank, who knew that keeping Joe in a hospital would have taken more persuasion than forcing an agitated bull to calm down. "But I'm really stumped as to who did what."

"What? You mean that you and Nancy don't have a clue?"

Frank admitted, "I can say that the killer was very thorough. I couldn't even find a scrap of clue in the crime scene. Anything could have been helpful: a strand of hair, a set of footprints, anything!"

Frank then told Joe their investigations and the murder. He also told his brother the suspects and how each of them was strange and could not be trusted. After listening patiently, Joe thought for a moment. He said out loud, "It seems like you haven't searched thoroughly enough."

"Huh? I searched the place as thorough as a police! How do you think I missed something so vital?"

"I don't know. Sometimes, you're really like me, Frank. You can be careless, reckless, and blind about things going on around you."

Frank laughed out loud. "Joe, the last one is almost 100 about you! But yeah, I guess I can be reckless at times and careless, too."

The blond detective then hung up after saying goodbye. Frank returned to the dining room. Nancy asked concernedly, "How is Joe?"

"He's fine," answered Frank. "He just needs some time to get used to the hospital, that's all."

Ned looked down at Frank's shoes. "Hey, Frank," he called. "What's that on your shoe?"

Frank looked down also. There was something brown stuck to his sneaker. He looked at it. "It's iron rust."

"Rust?" asked Nancy. "But where did you get it? I don't think there's any rust in this room."

Frank thought for a moment. This could be an important clue, but he didn't know where he got it from.

"I'll go back to investigate more," he said, turning around. He got to the second floor and looked down. The floor was clean.

He then went to the window where Ned caught Callie when she almost fell down. He found something brown on the floor. Picking it up, he realized that it was the same rust that was stuck to his shoe.

Then, he looked around. He was standing right in front of the room in which June was murdered.

"Could this be connected to the murder?" he wondered.

He went downstairs and asked Edna for the key to June's room. She gave him the key, and he went back upstairs. The other detectives followed.

Back in the crime scene, Frank looked down on the floor with the magnifying glass. He found traces of rust leading from the door of the room and back. He then followed the rust on the floor. He then came to the bed.

Taking a closer look, Frank found out that the rust was coming from the wheel at the bottom of the bed. Because the wheel was made of iron, the rust must have come from the wheel.

"Why is there rust on the floor?" wondered Frank. "The rust looks quite new; could a person have rolled the bed out of the room and back in?"

"But why?" asked Callie, confused. "Why would someone want to do that?"

Ned thought about it. "Maybe…" But he stopped, continuing to think to himself.

The other detectives were already busy with checking the floors. After ten minutes of thorough search, they agreed that the rust was only on the floor leading to the bed.

"But this confuses me," murmured Nancy.

Joe looked at the clock on the wall of his hospital room. It was still three in the afternoon. He put on his shoes and got out of bed. Then, he felt his forehead and winced.

"It still hurts," he murmured. "I'd better be careful not to move too much and too suddenly, or the wound will open."

He went out of the room and looked around. The hallway was filled with patients and their families, along with nurses in their white uniforms and doctors with the stethoscopes. After looking around for a while, the detective decided to get out of the building.

The first place he went to was the local library. The library was a huge four-story building with brown surface and green roof. He then looked at the roof. There were many statues of birds and mythical creatures.

"Gosh, this looks more like a museum," he murmured.

The detective went inside. He went to the newspaper section of the library and took a bunch to read. He thought that those new information might help him solve the current mystery.

Joe first took the newspapers from five years ago, but he didn't see anything concerning the hotel. Then, he went to the newspapers from ten years ago, and then from fifteen years ago. He still found no clue, and it was already five o'clock when he looked up from the newspapers.

Sighing, he decided to read the newspapers from twenty years ago. He took three issues and sat down to read. The first newspaper had nothing interesting on it. The second one was just as uninteresting. The third one, however, caught his attention.

"Wait a minute…" he muttered, taking a closer look at the cover page. "Could this be…?"

He took the cover page and looked at the reporter's name. "This reporter's name is Pierre LaSalle."

LaSalle… He thought that the name sounded familiar. But where did he hear that name?

"I remember now! That's the last name of one of the suspects in this mystery!" he shouted. But then, people around him looked around and stared at him. Embarrassed, he sat down and started reading the article.

"This talks about the vandalism that occurred in the Piermont Estate." He then stopped. Piermont… That name sounded familiar, too.

"That's the name of the hotel!" he murmured, careful not to shout out too much. "But what is this vandalism about?"

He continued: "'The mansion of Piermont Estate has been vandalized several times this month. As the resident of the mansion, whose name was William Nguyen, 56, came home from his three-day trip to Vatican City, he found many tire marks around the mansion. Once inside, he was astounded to see that the place had been torn apart. Apparently, nothing of value was stolen, but the furniture was damaged and brought down onto the floor, creating a huge chaos within the estate.'"

He looked up. "Could this vandalism have something to do with the current mystery?" he wondered. He then decided to check this man. "I surely hope he's still alive to tell the tale."

He searched the name online, and he found a site about William Nguyen. Joe then read that the man was a renowned archaeologist who retired fifteen years ago but still does researches. He jotted down the telephone number and took out his cell phone.

"Oh," he muttered as he realized that no cell phone was allowed in the library. Joe quickly went outside and dialed the number.

"Hello?" an old, scratchy voice asked. Joe presumed that it was William Nguyen.

"Is this Mr. Nguyen?" he asked.

"That's me," the old man answered. "Whaddya want?"

"Well, I want to hear more about the vandalism that occurred twenty years ago and…"

Mr. Nguyen interrupted, "Do you mean the one in Piermont Estate?"

"Uh… Yeah, that. Do you mind telling me more about that?" After the man answered no, he asked, "How many times did that occur?"

"I'd say… twice or… thrice, at the most." Then, there was a pause. "Yeah, three times. I think the vandal was searching for something, but I didn't know what."

Joe thought about what to ask next when the man continued, "And there was a strange thing on the floor when I came in."

"Huh?" Joe asked. "What was on the floor?"

"Well, there was a piece of paper that was taped down on the floor when I discovered the vandalism for the third time. The message on the paper was: 'If you dare touch Magician's treasure, he will get his revenge.'"

* * *

**_Postscript: _To the detective's surprise, the hotel had been haunted for more than a decade! Who could be making the mansion haunted? Why would someone do such a thing? The mystery has another twist as more and more clues are revealed. But what do all these clues mean? How do they go together? The truth is actually more complex than ever as detectives continue their investigation. Lies, deceptions, conspiracy, guilt, greed, hatred, and love play important roles in this complex mystery.**

**And don't forget about the main mystery! Is there a way to enter a lockedroom without a key? Or is it really the doing of a ghost that roamed the mansion for decades?**

**Read and Review, please!**


	12. Fruitful Searches

**_Foreword: _Here is the newest chapter! As I was writing the last few chapters, I found out that my story is not very Nancy-like. In other words, I didn't put any major trouble or danger before. But now, I'm putting in a little something that Nancy always does in almost every mystery. Anyway, this chapter has action, like the previous two chapters, and some majorly important hints. If you read carefully, you'll know who one of the killers might be! But remember: don't trust everything you read. There may be a few red herrings... :-)**

**So, this story is more than halfway done, but there are still 8 more chapters to go! I can assure you that this story will be finished by the end of May. And starting from the summer vacation, I'll be writing a new story. In fact, I have the next story all plotted out, but I still need time to polish the plan and to add more details to it.**

**If you haven't realized already, there are four total mysteries in this story. The first one is the burglary at Nancy's house. The second mystery is the hauntings at the old mansion. The third one is the murder. And the last one is the hidden treasure in Piermont Estate. Are they connected to each other?**

**The next mystery I'll be writing will have one case that is consisted of three total mysteries with three different tricks!**

**Speaking of tricks, can you figure out how the killer got into the locked room or stay hidden during a thorough search of the room? If you want more hints, you should reread all the previous chapters (especially Chapter 10).**

**But there is one more mystery: which detective will solve the mystery? Will it be Callie? Ned? Nancy? Frank? Or even Joe? Which of the five detectives do you think will unveil the killer? To find out...well, you have to wait. :-)**

**

* * *

Chapter 11**

_**Fruitful Searches**_

"What do you think that means?" asked Joe curiously.

"I have no idea," answered Mr. Nguyen, "but I moved out of the house immediately afterwards, thinking that the maniac was serious. I could've been killed if I stayed there long enough!"

"How do you know?"

"Well, that's just my guess. But the message itself was written with real blood! I'd say, it was written using cow's blood, but that scared the heck out of me!"

Joe nodded. "Okay, thanks for your cooperation," he said and hung up. Then, he called Frank. The dark-haired detective answered.

"Frank, you should hear what I found out."

"What is it?"

"It's about the mansion," Joe said. He then told his brother the entire investigation.

Frank nodded as he listened. "Okay, so maybe the killer knew about this incident beforehand," he said. "If he didn't, then he wouldn't think about writing a message in blood."

Nancy was listening to the conversation, and she frowned. "So do you think the killer was the same person who vandalized this estate twenty years ago?"

Frank shrugged. "Maybe. If the killer and the vandal were one person, then he or she must be at least forty to fifty years old now."

Callie imagined the suspects in her mind. "So the suspects now are Edna, Xavier, and Gary. The others are all in their late twenties or early thirties."

Nancy nodded. "And that would be quite possible. But do you really think that June wasn't involved with the vandalism?"

"She could be, but now, our prime suspects are those three that I mentioned." Callie then looked at Frank. "So did Joe find anything more?"

Frank shrugged after asking Joe the same question. Hanging up, Frank told the detectives, "We should investigate those three suspects a little closer." He grinned. "And I'm sure Xavier and Gary must have a lot to tell us."

The clock in the dining room rang, and the detectives noticed that it was six o'clock already.

"Ugh. I'm really getting hungry now," said Callie. "We should first eat. Then, we should investigate more."

Callie, Nancy, Frank, and Ned all went to the lobby to decide what to investigate next. "The only bad thing is that everybody is in their room most of the times," said Nancy. "Therefore, we can't search their rooms when they are still inside. And if we can't search, then we can't find any clue!"

Ned thought of something. "Wait," he said, "don't eat dinner just yet! Maybe this could be the chance for us to search the guests' rooms!"

"Huh?" asked Callie, confused. Then, she understood. "Oh… I see… So one of us should stay in our room and wait till everyone else goes to the dining room. Then, he or she slips out and enters the suspects' rooms."

"But who will the one be?" asked Frank.

After thinking for a while, Ned pointed to Nancy. "I vote for Nancy. After all, she is the master when it comes to picking locks."

Nancy, after thinking for a few seconds, nodded. "Okay," she agreed.

* * *

Everything was quiet once again. Nancy, who was in her room waiting, looked at the cell phone which Ned had given her. "Remember," he had said, "to get out when Frank calls you on the phone. You don't have to answer the call." 

Taking a deep breath, she took out her hairpin and waited. But as she did so, her mind kept wandering to the killer's plan. Was his murder show over? Or was the murderer planning to slay another victim?

She then thought about her mother. Could the second victim be the person who sat on the passenger's seat in the car that killed her mother?

A drop of tear rolled down the girl's cheek. She missed her mother very badly. She took out her pendant and opened it. Inside, her mother's face smiled warmly at her. Nancy closed the trinket and put it away into her purse. Then, she covered her face with her hands and wept silently.

"Mom, I miss you…" she muttered, wiping away her tears.

* * *

"What a wonderful dinner!" exclaimed Callie just as the dinner was brought into the dining room. 

Frank nodded and quietly took out his cell phone. After making sure that everybody was in the dining room, he called Ned's phone.

The ringing of her boyfriend's cell phone brought Nancy back from her daydreaming. She immediately opened it and then closed it. As she put the phone away, she silently opened the door and went out of the room.

The first room she went to was Henri's. The most suspicious suspect stayed in Room 10, and she immediately got the door unlocked. Stepping inside, she locked the door behind her and turned the lights on. She turned to the laptop which was on the table. Immediately, she turned the switch on.

Fortunately, she didn't need a password to log on. Immediately, Nancy noticed the folder which had the name "Drew" on it.

"Could this be about my mother?" she wondered. Opening it, she almost gasped in shock.

The document was not about Mrs. Drew; it was about Nancy herself!

Scrolling down, the girl detective saw that all the cases which she had encountered, from the one involving the old clock all the way to the one involving the mysterious pearls. Also, there were the recent ones, which included _Missing in Action_, _Ocean of Deceit_, and _Out of Tune_. She shivered as she took a cursory glance at the names of the cases and their descriptions.

"Why is Henri keeping notes about me?" she wondered. "I don't even think anybody else has more knowledge about my cases than he does!"

She knew that she didn't have much time. She closed the window and opened another one. A new window popped up and showed a blond boy standing beside an adult. "Wait a minute… The boy in this picture looks like…"

Nancy's eyes got wider. "Could this boy be Henri?" she wondered.

The girl detective minimized the window and looked at the other folders on the desktop. There was one labeled "Alphonse Piermont, circa 1896."

She opened it. The picture was in black and white. It showed a man with short black beard and a magician's hat. He wore a tuxedo with a cape and looked like an old-fashioned magician. Nancy nodded. Of course! This was the picture of the great magician himself!

But the girl detective saw a strange resemblance. She opened the minimized window and compared the two pictures.

"Oh, wow!" she muttered. "The man in the colored picture looks exactly like Piermont!"

She looked at the boy. "Could this man be Henri's father? But I don't see much resemblance…"

She saw another file on the desktop, but when she tried to open it, it requested for a password. Since she didn't know what it was, Nancy closed the file.

After that, Nancy found no more clues. Closing the laptop, the girl detective slipped out of the room and to the next most suspicious suspect's room. It was Amy's.

Nancy entered the room with ease. Then, she went to the table. On it were a laptop, a bottle of water, and a leather-bound notebook. She tried to open the notebook, but she found that it required a key of some sort. Sighing, she turned to the laptop.

There was nothing interesting on the computer, so Nancy closed it right away.

But she thought about Amy. Could she be hiding something from Nancy? As the girl detective got ready to leave, she saw another notebook placed underneath the suitcase. Curious, she opened it.

"What?" she gasped.

Nancy couldn't believe her eyes. The notebook was actually an album. Inside the album was a photograph of two women. One looked like Amy when she was younger, possibly a teenager, and the other one looked like…

"Mom!"

It was right; the older woman was Nancy's mother. Mrs. Drew was placing a hand on Amy's right shoulder, and Amy was holding a picture with one hand. She held a trophy with her other hand.

In shock, Nancy couldn't find a word to say. Her mind was blank. Everything didn't seem to make sense anymore, since she had more questions than answers.

"Why is Amy in this photograph with my mother?" Nancy wondered. The thought kept circling around her in her mind. The picture… The photograph… The trophy…

She shook her head again. "This must clearly be a clue," she murmured. "I should go tell the detectives about this."

But then, she stopped. "Hm?"

She stared at the picture. There seemed to be a third person in the picture. A girl stood just a few feet behind the two in the picture. She had reddish-blond hair and peach-colored shirt with blue pants.

"That's me!" murmured Nancy. "There's no mistake about it; this woman in the picture is my mom, and the girl in this picture is Amy!" She then looked at herself. "It seems that I was only three when this picture was taken."

After putting the album under the suitcase, Nancy went out of the room and into the third suspect's room.

Norma stayed in Room 12, and her room was as empty as the others' rooms. Nancy saw no laptop in the room, but she found a picture in the woman's wallet. In the picture, there were four people; a girl, a boy, a man, and a woman. They were all smiling at the camera. From the background, Nancy deduced that the photograph was taken in an amusement park.

Looking at the girl, Nancy thought she resembled Norma. However, the boy's face was a blur, probably because the photograph was so old parts of it were turning white. Nevertheless, Nancy took note of the things which she had found. When she turned around, she found that Norma's suitcase was open. She saw that there was a black sweater in it. Feeling it, she remembered how Norma said that she poured water on her sweater after the murder. This seemed strange, since the sweater wasn't soaked at all. Nancy put it away and got out of the room.

The fourth suspect was Gary. Nancy found that the laptop required a password to log in.

"Of course," she muttered. "If this laptop is lost, someone can copy the novel which Gary wrote, even when Gary himself has a backup copy."

She looked at the suitcase and the things that were inside. She found no photograph but found a notebook. She found out that the notebook contained the notes which Gary himself took when thinking about the ideas for his novel. The title of the newest novel, it stated, was _Twilight Visitor_. "Hmm…" she muttered. "Sure sounds intriguing."

But then, when she stood up, the cell phone fell down from the pocket and crashed on the floor. "Oh, no!" murmured Nancy, distressed. "Maybe I broke it!" She tried to turn the switch on, but it didn't work; the phone was broken.

"Darn. Well, I'll need to convince my dad to get two new phones, one for me and the other for Ned."

* * *

The guests had just finished the dinner. "That was marvelous," Amy said, wiping her mouth. 

"Now, I should be getting back to my study," said Gary, standing up.

Frank noticed that he had to call Nancy. "I should warn her to get out of the suspect's room," he thought. Dialing the number, he heard nobody answer. "Hurry, Nancy!" he murmured.

Nancy didn't notice that Frank was calling her. She kept investigating. However, when she heard footsteps behind her, she froze. Someone was coming toward the room in which she stayed.

"Oh, no!" she thought. "The guests have finished their dinner!"

Nancy thought of a way out, but she knew that the door could not be used. She looked at the window. There was a cliff right outside the window, and it was too dangerous to try climbing up to the roof.

The person was indeed Gary. He took out the key to his room and put it into the keyhole.

Nancy heard the sound and thought desperately of a way out.

"What should I do? What should I do?" she murmured, frantically looking around.

The key turned. In the next second, someone opened the door.

* * *

_**Postscript: **_**Wow, yet another cliffhanger. Will Nancy be caught? How can the other detectives help her? And why was there a photo of Nancy's mother in Amy's room? Why was Henri keeping such a detailed account of Nancy's previous mysteries? The mystery still continues. In the next chapter, there will be a shocking twist that will surprise you, guaranteed!  
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	13. Twilight Visitor

**_Foreword: _Hmm... It's so strange to see that more people are reading _Out of Tune _than _Haunting Memories_ when I was most dissatisfied with the number of reviews I got for _Out of Tune_... That's weird... Anyway...**

**In the last chapter, the girl detective was searching in a suspect's room when the suspect opened the door! Will Nancy be able to be unnoticed by the suspect? Also, this chapter is the third major point in the story, so pay more attention to it! (The first major point was Joe's accident. The second one was the murder.) I'll write more in the postscript. Happy sleuthing! And please REVIEW! Thanks.**

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* * *

Chapter 12**

_**Twilight Visitor**_

"Hm?" Gary murmured as he entered the room. Nobody was inside, but he could swear that he heard a noise inside. "Must have been the storm," he thought.

He stepped into his room. He opened his laptop and entered his password. Then, he got to work.

Nancy had held her breath for as long as possible, hoping to stay unnoticed until the writer would either go out of the room or go to the bathroom. She was hiding in the closet and could hear the writer typing.

"Please don't let him notice me!" she thought nervously.

Just as she thought so, the writer got up. "Let's see… Where was my tie?" he murmured to himself. He then walked right to the closet and grasped the handle.

Nancy closed her eyes. She could feel the anxiety inside her. "Don't open the door!" she thought desperately.

Just then, a loud scream came from downstairs. Surprised, Gary went to the door, opened it, and went outside, wondering what the scream was about.

When she heard the door close, Nancy came out of the closet. "Whew!" she thought. "That was a close one!"

But she then went to the door. Hearing nobody outside, she opened the door cautiously and went out. Then, she ran down to the dining room.

Everybody was there, and it was evident that Callie was the one who had screamed. When she saw everyone, she grinned slightly and said, "Sorry! I thought I saw a mouse, but that was just my imagination!"

"Oh, I was so surprised to hear the scream!" murmured Edna. "You could've given me a heart attack!"

As the guests left, Nancy looked at Callie. Callie grinned and winked at her. "Callie…Did you…?" started Nancy.

Frank explained everything to her. He said: "Because I couldn't contact you by the phone, we needed a better way to get the guests' attentions once they enter their rooms. So, by letting Callie scream, we lured the guests outside and let you get out of the room."

Nancy grinned. "And you weren't a second too early," she said. "I would've been caught for sure if you screamed even a second later!" She then looked at the others. "But no more sleuthing for me today. I think I experienced enough excitement for one day."

But then, she knew that she was starving. "I'll need to eat dinner now," she said with a grin. "I'll see you guys later!"

She went downstairs and into the kitchen. Derek was there, and he put the dishes onto the table. "I knew you'd come back for dinner," he said, grinning.

Nancy enjoyed the dinner very much. As she looked at the clock, she noticed that it was well past eight. Then, she caught sight of a painting under the clock. The painting showed a mustached man. "Um, Derek?" she asked. The cook turned around. "Do you know who that is?"

"That's Piermont," the cook replied. "For some reason, the painting was pasted right onto the wall and was unable to be taken off. Speaking of Piermont, I know quite a lot about him, but it's less than what Henri knows. For example, I know that Piermont was married to a twenty-year-old when he was forty!"

"Wow, really?" asked Nancy.

Derek nodded. "But they were the perfect couple. He died just a few years after marrying her, though, and she was so shocked that she died a few months after his death! I guess the wife's name was Julia…"

Nancy listened as Derek told of tales about the great magician. Then, when she finished the dessert, she went out of the kitchen and met the other detectives. "So what did you find in the suspects' rooms?" asked Frank.

Nancy told him everything, including the framed photograph, the sweater, and the laptop. Frank thought about what all those clues could mean. When the detectives finally went back to their own rooms after the long day, Nancy was very exhausted.

"I guess I should take a shower," she muttered.

Nancy stayed awake till midnight, reading _Like Wind Through My Heart_, a romance novel written by Charleena Purcell. Then, noticing that she could hardly keep her eyes open, she went to bed. But the knocking on the door awakened her. As she looked at the clock, she noticed that it was three in the morning. She sat up, put her slippers on, and opened the door. "Who is it?" she asked. She saw nobody out in the dark hall, so she sighed and went back to bed.

A few minutes later, she heard another knock on the door. She then opened the door. What she saw almost made her scream. A masked person with a chapeau and wearing a tuxedo and a cloak stood in front of her. As she tried to scream, the person covered her mouth with a moist handkerchief. Nancy knew the smell of chloroform and blacked out immediately.

* * *

Morning came without sunshine. The storm was as bad as before but was a little better. But the guests were informed that the storm would last another twenty-four hours and was one of the longest-lasting storms ever. They were announced that the police wouldn't be able to come because of a number of landslides and had to wait till the storm cleared up to get out. 

Before breakfast, Frank knocked on Callie's door to see if she was okay. She answered with a face that made him sure that she hadn't slept well. "I kept having those nightmares," she muttered, sighing.

The two went to the dining room and saw a few other people there before them. Frank saw Norma, Henri, and Edna. Ned then came after them, yawning.

Edna looked around and saw that Nancy, Amy, Xavier, and Gary weren't there. Derek came from inside the kitchen with a tray of breakfast dishes and bread, along with some drinks. Edna knew that Amy didn't feel like eating because she didn't feel well and Xavier had no appetite that morning, but didn't hear from Gary and Nancy.

"Maybe I should go and take a look," she murmured. "Please excuse me and finish your dinner," she then said to the guests with a smile.

The owner went up the stairs and disappeared from view. After a short while, the guests heard an ear-piercing scream!

Surprised, the guests ran up the stairs and to the second floor. They saw Edna standing right in front of Gary's room, her face white and her body shivering with fright. She saw the guests and immediately covered her mouth, stifling another scream as she stared back into the room. Frank went to the door and stepped inside, wondering what had scared the woman. He saw the figure in the middle of the room and couldn't help backing up with surprise.

In the middle of the room lay Gary Friedrich, and around his neck was a rope made of many colorful handkerchiefs commonly used in magic tricks tied together. His face was pale and seemed to be in agony. But the person sitting on the chair and holding the end of the colorful rope was Nancy Drew, who woke up at the sound of Edna's scream. And on her head was the black chapeau.

"Murderer!" screamed Norma, who saw the girl detective's face. "You killed Gary, didn't you?"

Nancy still seemed confused, but when she saw the body, her eyes were wide with shock and horror. "No!" she shouted, standing up. The hat fell down from her head and landed on the dead man's hand. "No! That wasn't me! I swear I didn't do anything!"

Frank finally found his voice. "Gary…" he said, walking to the body. After touching the neck of the body, he was sure that the man was dead. But he noticed that the body was still warm. It seemed that the writer was killed in less than thirty minutes.

"Nancy," said Frank, turning to Nancy, "why are you in this room?"

Nancy seemed to shudder as she took the chapeau off her head. "I…In the middle of the night, at three o'clock in the morning, I heard knocking on the door. I opened the door but saw nobody out there. But then, the knocking came again a few minutes later, and I opened the door as well. Right in front of me stood the person wearing tuxedo, a cape, and a black chapeau. Before I screamed, that person put handkerchief soaked with chloroform over my mouth and nose. In no time, I blacked out, and the next thing I knew, I was sitting here with the body…"

Ned was now entering the room with a shocked expression. "Nancy!" he exclaimed. "What…What happened here?"

Nancy covered her face with her hands and sat there, totally in shock. Looking at the mark on the victim's throat, it was clear that Gary was strangled to death. The rope made of handkerchiefs seemed to be the weapon. But the body was still warm, and that made the mystery more complicated.

Frank turned toward the guests and the staffs of the hotel. "Can you each tell me your alibis from thirty minutes ago to now?"

Norma and Henri were the ones who stayed in the dining room all the time. It was obvious that Derek was in the kitchen most of the time and didn't even go upstairs, since the stairs were the only way to reach to the second floor. Then, the only ones who could've committed the crime were Edna, Xavier, Amy, and Nancy.

The first one to talk about what she did was Edna. "I went to this room and knocked on the door, but nobody answered. So I used the master key to make sure everything was all right in there. But then, I saw Mr. Friedrich on the floor and screamed right away."

Frank took note, however, that she could have strangled the man before screaming, so he put her as having no alibi.

Xavier was as gruff as ever. "I was in my room, and there's nothing to prove that," he said, not feeling like talking.

Amy seemed sick. "I was in my room because I had a headache since morning. I think it's because of the fact that I forgot to close my window all night."

"Why did you open the window in the first place?" asked Ned, curious.

The painter seemed surprised to hear this question, but she answered, "I was planning to get some fresh air inside, but it seems like I only got water." She then chuckled lightly.

Then, suddenly, Norma noticed one thing. "Hey, this means that every one of us except Miss Drew here has a solid alibi!" she exclaimed. "In the first murder, Henri, Gary, and I didn't show up, but everyone else did. And in the second murder, everyone except Edna, Xavier, and Amy showed up. So this means that everybody has at least one solid alibi during these two murders!"

Everybody looked around nervously. "Nancy is the only one who could've killed both June and Gary," Callie muttered, astounded. "I…I don't know what to say…"

Ned seemed grim. He looked at the notes he took and knew that the reporter was right; everybody had at least one solid alibi, but Nancy was in her room in the first killing and was with the victim in the second killing. This made Nancy seem more and more suspicious by the minute!

"No," he murmured. "This can't be. Someone must have been using a trick of some sort. Otherwise, there's no way those murders could've been committed! Besides, Nancy doesn't have reason to kill Gary!"

"What about the case her mother worked on fifteen years ago?" a voice said. It came from Henri. He grinned as he took out something from inside behind his back. It was a laptop.

"I did a research of my own and found out that your mother, Carol Drew, was a detective who worked on the 'Blackshire Court Murder Case', where a wealthy lady was killed in her own home. Am I right?"

How did he know about my mom? Nancy thought in awe and in horror. This man… Who is he?

"Am I right?" the man repeated. Nancy nodded grimly.

"And in that investigation, two suspects turned up, and they were Mr. Linton Quinn, who is Ms. Quinn's former husband, and the victim here, Mr. Gary Friedrich, who was also Mr. Quinn's stepbrother."

He glanced at Nancy once again. "After finding clues, Mr. Quinn was sent to jail and Mr. Friedrich was acquitted. However, Mr. Friedrich and Ms. Quinn, being Mr. Linton's stepbrother and wife respectively, had to avenge his going to jail. So they planned to kill Mrs. Drew right in front of her three-year-old's eyes. That's my theory, at least, but that is something to consider, is it not?"

Ned stared at Henri and suddenly remembered the file in his laptop named "Nancy Drew."

"Are all these data from that file?" Ned asked himself. "But then, how did he get all these information?" Henri seemed more and more suspicious by the second. Who was this man? Why is he so interested in making Nancy the killer?

Frank sighed and picked up the chapeau from the corpse's left hand. "Hm?" he muttered, noticing that there were some red spots on the victim's finger. He picked up the hand to inspect closer. "This is… blood," he examined. He then took the other hand. "There's no blood on the finger here," he muttered. "But the victim doesn't seem to be injured…"

Meanwhile, Nancy's eyes got wider. Pieces of per memory were placed in her mind. The huge fog that obscured her memory suddenly disappeared as she heard Henri's data. Now she remembered. The man who sat in the passenger's seat was clearly Gary Friedrich while the one driving the car was June Quinn!

"Oh, no," she muttered, her widened eyes staring at the floor. "I…I'm the prime suspect!"

* * *

_**Postscript: **_**Uh-oh for Nancy! She is the prime suspect in the murder of two people! But that's no wonder, since she is the only person who didn't have a single alibi for either of the killings. How did the killer do that? How did he have an alibi? And why does Henri know so much about Nancy?**

**Here is a suggestion to those of you who want to be more organized about this mystery. Make a list of names for the people who did have alibis during the first murder. Then, make a list with people who had alibis for the second murder. You might want to compare those two. Maybe you'll find an important clue that way! Anyway, that's just a suggestion from the author:-)**

**So, the mystery now has two murders in it. And after the second murder, Nancy fully recovers her memory. She finds out that the person who was sitting in the passenger seat was Gary, and the one driving the car was June! Is it just a coincidence that those two were killed, or did Nancy kill them without knowing? Either way, ****all circumstancial evidences point toward her, and ****she'll have to find proof fast to prove that she is innocent. Can she do that?**

**This is the thirteenth chapter in the story, and there will be seven left. (Time does fly when you're reading a fast-paced mystery novel, doesn't it?) The killer, trick that was used, evidence pointing toward the killer, and the place where the treasure is hiding will be revealed in chapters 17 and 18. The motives will be revealed in chapter 19, and the epilogue is chapter 20. Before I post the 17th chapter up (which is Chapter 16 in the novel), you should be thinking about who the killers might be. If you find out, send me a message!**

**And don't forget to _REVIEW_ as well! I'll be waiting to hear your opinions!  
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	14. Beneath His Mask

**_Foreword: _Phew… As I said before, I'm trying to balance mystery with romance, and I now find it VERY difficult. But I managed to add some romance in this chapter, and things are going according to my schedule. In this chapter, the detectives are trying to find out who killed the victims, but Nancy finds more about the mysterious couple who were allegedly killed. Does the couple have anything to do with the murder? Also, the girl detective's two best friends are back in the mystery! Read, enjoy, and please review!

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**Chapter 13**

_**Beneath His Mask**_

Ned scratched his head as he read over his notes. "There has to be a way," he muttered. "There always was a way to make something seem impossible." He remembered the case the detectives worked on just a few weeks ago in Miami. In that case, the murderer used an ingenious trick to frame Frank and make a perfect locked room. But Nancy figured out the trick and soon caught the killer. However, this case was different. In fact, this was exactly the opposite!

"In Miami, the murderer could enter through a door but could not exit the room. And in this case, the murderer could not enter the room but could exit easily because the room's lock was auto-lock. So it could be possible that he hid in the room, but Frank is the one denying that, for he searched every single space in the room," he muttered.

And what about the alibis? The only person in the whole hotel without a single solid alibi was Nancy. During the first murder, she was asleep in her room, and in the second murder, she was found in the same room with the victim! There wasn't a worse situation for her, and Ned was determined to reveal the identity of the cold-blooded killer. He got up from his seat in the dining room and went up the stairs.

* * *

Nancy started searching in the room where the first murder occurred. She looked at the walls but found absolutely no way to get in or out of the place. The window was tightly locked. As her flashlight flickered off, she sighed and decided to turn the lights on. She tried the light switch. It worked. In a moment, the room was illuminated. 

Suddenly, Nancy remembered something important. "Wait a minute," she muttered. "Frank tried the light switch but said that it didn't work. Then why does it work now?" She looked at the light bulbs of the chandelier. They seemed perfectly fine. "Did Edna or her staffs change the light bulb? But nobody entered this room since the time of the murder!"

She checked the entire room again, but still couldn't find a new clue. She sighed and went out to the hallway. As she turned left, she noticed the door right next to the room. It was the door to the linen room. She went inside. A huge box was on the ground just a few feet in front of her. There were also some old lamps and a heap of linens. She looked at the cardboard box. It was labeled "Mattie's Mattress." She presumed that this box contained the mattresses when they were shipped to the houses of the buyers. It seemed to be especially designed to carry one mattress. She then looked at the linens. They were stacked up neatly in three piles. Each of the piles was about three feet high. She turned to the lamps. They seemed quite old and dusty. She could even detect an old cobweb at the top of one of the lamps.

Nancy then got out of the small room. Then, she noticed that Norma's room was facing June's door. And across the hall from these rooms was Amy's. The girl detective stood in the hallway where June's room was located. She noticed that from where she was standing, she couldn't see the stairs at all.

"I wonder if she…" murmured Nancy. But she didn't finish the sentence. The girl then went back downstairs to meet the other detectives.

But she suddenly remembered how Henri explained about the murder case. "How did he know about that?" she wondered. "And why did he know the reason behind the magician's wearing his mask?" She then turned around, thinking. "Does he know more than he tells?"

She took out her notebook and wrote down his name. "Henri LaSalle. I'll let Dad do a little research on him, since I didn't bring my laptop with me."

The girl went back to her room and called her father, since her cell phone was still missing. "Hello? Dad?"

"Hello, Nancy," answered the middle-aged man. "How is your investigation?"

"Very bad," explained the girl detective. "And I'm the prime suspect!"

"What! Why?"

The girl detective explained everything, from the puzzling impossible crimes and to the alibis that everyone had except for her. "And everyone believes that I'm the one who killed those two people. And sadly, I have the motive!"

Mr. Drew wondered, "So what do you want me to research?"

"Oh. About Henri LaSalle. He's a Frenchman who knows a lot of things. He has blond hair and blue eyes, which I consider to be in the kind-of-cute category. But not as cute as Ned, of course."

Mr. Drew chuckled and told her that he'll call her as soon as he got any information. Thanking her father, the girl detective hung up and read over her notes. "And if my guess is right, his history may have a lot to do with why he knows so much." But she also had another question in her mind.

A few minutes later, the phone rang again. Nancy answered it. It was from Bess and George.

"How was it at the luxurious hotel in Maine?" asked Bess, giggling. "George just did the funniest thing ever!"

"What is it?" asked Nancy.

"It isn't funny, Bess," answered George, somewhat bitterly. "What she's giggling hysterically about is the fact that I slipped on the hay on the floor of the ranch house and my face landed on the horse's butt."

Nancy couldn't stifle her laughter. George seemed more cross than ever. "That's not funny, Nancy!" said the girl. "It'll take years before the smell of horse-butt will disappear from my face!"

"Oh, don't exaggerate, George," Bess said, finally stopping her giggles. "I'm sure Burt Eddleton won't mind. If you're still worried, I can lend you my perfumes!" Burt was George's long-time boyfriend who was also Ned's friend.

George pretended to throw up. "No way, Bess! I can bet that smelling like a horse is better than smelling like a sissy in a rose garden!"

"Hey! My perfumes have more varieties of scents than just roses! In fact, I have the Cherry Champ, Peach Punch, Coconut Craze, Apple Amour, and even Strawberry Splash! Wanna try?"

Then, Nancy heard a sound of a spray, and George immediately shouted, "Ah! Bess! That reeks! And you got the coconut odor all over my favorite T-shirt!"

"Stop whining, George!" Bess said. "Mmm… You smell like a coconut, and I like it."

"Well, let's change the subject," George suggested, sighing. "So how is your stay there, Nancy?"

"Bad," answered the girl detective. "I'm the prime suspect for two murders!"

Bess gasped. "Omigosh! Why? How?"

Nancy summarized everything that happened, and the two girls listened attentively. Bess even gasped once in every three to four sentences. "So you're stuck there with a maniacal killer?" Bess finally asked. Nancy answered yes, and she gasped one more time.

"Okay, enough gasping," George said. "I hope you'll be careful, Nance. We'll do anything we can to help you."

But Bess interrupted: "So did you meet any cute guy over there?"

"Bess!" George exclaimed. "Nancy already has a boyfriend and so do you! Why do you even ask her these things?"

Nancy grinned. "Well, to tell the truth, I _did _find a few interestingly handsome guys. Their names are Derek and Henri."

"Henri," Bess said. She pronounced the name dreamily with a strong French accent. "That's a nice name. He's from the land of _ooh la-la_, isn't he?"

Nancy chuckled. "Yes, he says he is, but his English is way too good."

"Sounds like he's hiding something," George remarked.

"My thoughts exactly. I asked Dad to do some research on him, but if you girls can do some research for me as well, I'd really appreciate it."

"Of course we can!" Bess exclaimed. "Besides, George here is a genius when it comes to computers, and I'm the genius in fixing those computers. She does break them quite often."

"Hey, it's not my fault all these spy wares are entering my laptop!" said George, once again crossly. "Anyway, we'll call as soon as we get any information that you might find interesting."

"Sounds good," answered the titian-haired girl. "And I'll call you once in a while to check how you guys are and to tell you how far I got in the investigation. Bye!"

As the girl hung up, she got yet another call. This time, it was from her father. "Dad, did you get any new leads?"

"It seems that this Frenchman you talked about has been in America for some time now."

"What do you mean?"

"He is a writer and a reporter in France. For some reason, he moved to United States five years ago when he was still in his early twenties. Actually he is one of the owners of the highest IQ!"

"Wow!" remarked Nancy. "How high is his IQ?"

"Well, it says here in the French website that he has an IQ of 180."

Nancy couldn't help exclaiming, "180! That must make him a genius!"

"Yes, and I would advise to be careful when investigating. I can tell that he has more than a few skeletons rattling about in his closet."

Nancy said that she would be careful and hung up. She then thought about the man. Having an IQ that high must make him very intelligent. Could he have somehow come up with the trick to enter the locked room without a key?

The girl sleuth went to the suspect's room and knocked on the door. Henri answered.

"Well, mademoiselle, what can I do for you?" asked the Frenchman. "I'm busy here, as you can see."

Nancy nodded. "I just wanted to know why you came here," she said. "I mean, this isn't a very luxurious resort or anything. So why did you come here?"

Henri looked a little stern as he heard the question. "Well, I came here because it's close to the ocean. I wanted to enjoy the breeze from the Atlantic, but now it seems that I can't because of this storm."

The girl detective nodded. "I wanted to know another thing… How did you find out so much about the magician and about my mom?"

Henri smiled. "I'm a reporter back in France. You might not know this, but I came here to study about the criminals and their psychology. I might look quite young, but I am also one of the most distinguished writers in France as well."

"That's amazing," Nancy said, suddenly feeling herself blush a little. Talking to a blond-haired and blue-eyed man who came from France was definitely not easy, especially when they were the only ones in the hall. "And… Is it true that you have an IQ of 180?"

The man smiled warmly again. "IQ is just a method for people to see where their overall intelligence is located at. But I can say that not all the people with highest IQ can be as intelligent as the killer apparently is in this murder mystery."

Nancy looked into his eyes. They were as blue as the rough ocean beneath the cliff but were also as cold as the winter sky. However, she couldn't seem to escape from his gaze. After a few seconds, she forced her eyes to look away.

"Well…I have to go now," she finally said, looking away from him. "It was nice talking to you."

But before Nancy could turn around, he lightly touched her arm and swung her around. He kissed her once on each of her cheeks and smiled. "That's called _la bise_. We do that very often in France."

Nancy blushed even more now.

"I…I…" she stammered, not knowing what to say. "Well, thanks…I guess."

Then, she noticed someone standing there. As she turned her head around to her right, she saw a person standing there with a look of shock on his face. Her eyes got round with astonishment.

"Ned!" Nancy shouted.

* * *

**_Epilogue: _What will happen to Nancy and Ned? And Henri seems to have a very high IQ, and he acts like he knows more than he tells. Could it be that he was the one who thought of a way to accomplish an impossible crime? Find out in the next chapter, titled: _Misunderstood..._**


	15. Misunderstood

**_Foreword: _Sorry for the long wait! Here is the newest chapter, and there will only be one more chapter till the detectives reveal who the killer is! After Nancy was seen with Henri, Ned is shocked. What will he do and how will Nancy explain things to him? Read to find out. And please review!**

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Chapter 14**

_**Misunderstood**_

"Ned, I can explain!" said Nancy, following her boyfriend back to his room. "I…I didn't mean to look so sheepish and dumb. Ned, believe me!"

Ned looked grimly at her for a second and entered his room. But before Nancy could enter, he closed the door.

"Ned!" Nancy shouted, knocking on the door. "Please! Ned!"

It was useless; Ned didn't even bother to answer his girlfriend's plea. Nancy listened, but she heard nothing inside. She then sighed and turned around. She saw Frank and Callie walk up the staircase together. "Nancy?" Frank muttered, surprised. "Why do you look so sad?"

"Oh, nothing, Frank," replied Nancy, taking out the key to her room and inserting it into the keyhole. After turning the lock counterclockwise, the door opened. She stepped inside and closed the door silently after her.

"I wonder if she's okay," murmured Callie nervously. "But Frank, do you think that she really killed those two people?"

Frank shook his head. "I wouldn't believe it. She was found in that room with a dead body. Unless she wants to be caught, I wouldn't think she would want to stay in the room. Besides, she was holding the weapon which was used to kill Gary. Why would she do that? There's only one answer: she was framed. Killing a person and then staying in the same room holding the weapon is same as calling a police and saying that she was a serial killer. The person who does that is insane."

Callie then wondered about something. "Then, who could've done it?" she asked. "Everyone has at least one solid alibi. Who could've committed those two crimes?"

Frank sighed and said he didn't know. "But I'll find out sooner or later. Besides, we still have to find out how the killer entered the locked room."

He and Callie went to scene of the first murder. He looked at the ground. The body was already carried away outside, but the blood was still visible. He looked at the bed, the window, and the bathroom. But after a few minutes of thorough searching, he still found no place for a person to hide. "That's really strange," he muttered. "Unless he was invisible or could walk through walls, it would be impossible to get into this room or not get noticed when I searched the room."

Callie wondered out loud, "Do you think it was the ghost Henri was talking about? It's really hard to believe anyone pulling such a trick."

"There's no such thing as a ghost!" he returned. "To me, a murderer is more dangerous than a ghost."

Frank then had an idea and went down to the lobby. He saw Edna writing something down on her notebook. When she saw the detectives, she smiled and hurriedly put the notebook away. "Well, how may I help you?" she asked.

The dark-haired detective said, "I need to see the place where you keep your keys locked."

She turned around and showed the detectives the key holder. Frank noticed that each of the keys had a number on them, but the master keys didn't. And all the master keys were bundled up using a metallic key holder. The holder was then locked in place using the special lock that could only be unlocked using the key Edna has. The key holder itself was circular.

"Hmm…So it's virtually impossible to take the key from this key holder without the special key that unlocks the holder," muttered Frank. "And there's no spare for the key that unlocks the holder, is that right?"

Edna nodded. Frank sighed.

"So the room was completely locked," he concluded.

"Completely?" a voice asked from behind the detectives. The detectives knew that it was Henri's voice. "From all the cases that I've observed in America, none of them were truly impossible. I'm sure there is a logical explanation for everything."

Callie looked at him with suspicion. "How do you think the door was opened, then?" she asked. "Unless there was an invisible man in the room, Frank would've noticed him."

Henri snickered. "There is one way," he answered. Callie continued to stare at him, not knowing what to say.

"How?" she finally asked. For some reason, she felt like her body was frozen when talking to that man. His stare was as icy as a glacier.

Henri pointed to Frank. "The only way that a person can make the room 'a perfect locked room,' there must be two people. The first one is the person who searches the room and another one who enters the room after everybody was gone." He smirked as he looked at Frank. "And you are the only one who could've made this crime impossible."

"You'll have to explain that," said Callie. "Frank couldn't have made the room unlocked. I was the one who checked that the door was locked when everybody started to leave to see how Nancy was doing. I made sure that the door was locked."

The French man continued his explanation. "Could your friend Frank have knowingly missed to see the killer who was hiding in, say, the bathroom?"

Callie gasped. "What are you saying?" she asked, glaring at him.

"If a person was already hidden in the room, then he or she would easily be noticed if he or she hid in the bathroom. But if Frank was an accomplice in crime, then he can pretend that nobody was in the hotel room when a person was hiding in the bathroom."

"But…" Callie stopped. Henri was right. Frank was the only one who could've made the room look like a locked room. "But, what's the motive? Frank has never seen the victims before!"

Henri again smirked. "I agree. I can find no link between Mr. Hardy and the victims. But what if he was doing this with Miss Drew? My guess is this. Miss Drew kills June and hides in the bathroom. Mr. Hardy pretends that the room is empty after a 'thorough' search. And he goes to Miss Drew's room, with everyone else following him. At that moment, Miss Drew gets out of the room, out through the window that was already broken, and then back into her room through the window, which was unlocked beforehand. When Ms. Kempton comes back with the master key, she pretends to wake up." He stopped and looked at Frank. "I'm sure you follow my thoughts, Mr. Hardy. If you and Miss Drew were in love, then you wouldn't hesitate to avenge her mother's death for her, would you?"

"No!" a voice shouted. Startled, the three looked at the place where the feminine voice came from. They all noticed Nancy standing there. She glared at Henri with clear distaste. "Frank is not a killer, and neither am I."

Henri didn't answer. After a few seconds, he turned around. "Hmph. But I am still convinced that you and Mr. Hardy worked together to perform this murder show."

Then, the man went to the stairs and returned to his room. Silence followed.

"What a creep!" murmured Callie in distaste. "I think he is the killer. I don't know how he did it, but I'm sure he was the one!"

Frank nodded. "But we don't have single evidence, Callie. We must find something that will make him confess, or at least admit to the murder."

The two went to the dining room. As Callie entered the room, she bumped into someone. It was Derek.

"Ouch!" he said, touching his right arm.

"Oh, sorry," apologized Callie. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay," answered Derek. "I just finished washing the dishes. I accidentally cut my arm with the knife, so it's still wrapped up in bandage."

As the cook left the room and headed to his room, Frank and Callie entered. "Wow, I'm thirsty already!" said Callie. "I'll go get something to drink from the kitchen. Do you want anything?"

"No thanks," answered Frank.

Callie entered the kitchen and took a glass. Pouring water into the cup, she quenched her thirst and went out. Frank was sitting down, waiting for her. She took her seat and asked, "What do you think we should do now?"

Frank thought about what Nancy had said the day before. "Nancy says that the picture she found in Henri's room suggests some resemblance to the dead magician. Also, Amy obviously knows Nancy's mother."

"Do you think Amy is the killer?" asked Callie.

"Maybe," answered Frank. "But if she is the killer, then she has a solid alibi during the first murder. It's still possible for her to be working with an accomplice. I believe there are two killers in this case."

Callie sighed. "Well, if there are two killers, then how can we prove that? I mean, we need a solid evidence to convince the police."

Frank thought for a minute. "I just don't know where to begin…"

* * *

Nancy looked out the window. The weather outside was starting to clear up. 

"I can't make the murderer do this!" she muttered to herself. "I can't let him frame me! I don't know how, but he made a perfect alibi and made me the one without any alibi by knocking me out."

She stopped and thought for a second. "But why? Why would a person do that? Does he hate me that much? Or is it because…"

Nancy gasped. "Of course! I am the one with the obvious motive to kill the two people! Then, the killer must have found that out somehow… But how did he find out?"

She thought for another moment. Then, she clasped her hands. "The robbery! The robbery that occurred in my house has something to do with this! So when the thief stole the file about my mother's last case, he found the information needed to find out who the culprit was. Then, he must have gone over the newspapers from fifteen years ago and found out that my mother was killed by the relatives of the man who was convicted of murder…"

Then, she realized that it was impossible. "No… The killer was never captured, and the newspaper didn't say anything about the license plate… Then, how did the killer know something that only I knew?"

Just then, the telephone rang. She answered it and found that the caller was her father. "Hi, Dad!" she said. "Did you find anything new about the mysterious family?"

"I sure did," answered Mr. Drew. "I just found that Ian Milton, the man who was killed before his wife, apparently owned a corporation that earned millions of dollars worldwide. Before he was killed, he lent millions of dollars to June and her husband. But after he was killed, the company which he owned ended up bankrupt, and Mr. and Mrs. Quinn didn't have to return the money anymore. It was even rumored that the couple had killed Mr. Milton."

"I see," murmured Nancy.

"Oh, and there is one more news," added Mr. Drew. "According to my research, Gary Friedrich is June Quinn's brother. It was also rumored that he worked with the Quinns to kill Ian Milton. However, because there was no evidence, they weren't convicted of the crime, if they committed it."

Suddenly, Nancy remembered one important fact that she had heard from Henri after she was found with the body of the second victim. "Henri was right!" she muttered to herself. "And this must mean something important. Maybe the killer wanted to…"

Mr. Drew seemed quite confused. "Nancy? What are you talking to yourself about?"

Nancy immediately said goodbye and hung up.

She sat down onto her bed and picked up her notebook and jotted everything down. "I see," she muttered happily. "I'm beginning to see now the motive behind the two murders!" She then looked at the picture of her and Ned in her wallet and remembered Ned. Sighing, she thought, "Should I explain to Ned what had happened between Henri and me?"

Nancy thought about what Ned might say. "No, I'll tell him later. Right now, I need to find clues."

* * *

Because he was still curious about how the victim appeared into a locked room, Frank went to the scene of the first crime. Using the key, the detective opened it. Then, when he still found no clue after a cursory search, went to the next room, which was a storage room. He saw the cardboard box that was used to put the mattresses in it. When Frank tilted it, he noticed a strand of blond hair fall out from inside. 

"I wonder whose hair this is…?" he muttered. "And what is it doing in an unused cardboard box?"

Frank put the box back as it was and went out.

* * *

The first thing Nancy thought about was the cryptic message which she was unable to solve yet. 

"Speaking of which," she muttered, "this code could be one."

**17e, 8i, 23w, 5i, 25y, 11s, 21h, 9n, 16l, 4a, 12h, 20t, 14l, 18a, 2y, 15l, 22e, 24a, 1m, 6n, 13a, 3p, 10g, 7t, 19d.**

Nancy sighed. "Well, I still have no clue as to what this thing may mean."

She took out her purse and searched for a pen. She then found the cell phone which Ned had lent her. "Oh. I need to return this to Ned," she muttered. "Huh?"

She tried to turn the switch on. "Oh, yeah… I forgot that this cell phone is broken. It's out of order."

Suddenly, something hit Nancy's mind as she said the last few words. "Out of order…?"

Turning to the cryptic code, she grinned. "I got it! So the numbers in this sequence is out of order! If I put them side by side in a specific order, then they will make the message!"

She tried it immediately. "I got it! The message is 'My painting shall lead the way.'"

"Wait…" Nancy muttered. "What does he mean by saying that his painting will lead the way? Paintings don't say anything… So how can it tell where whatever Piermont was trying to hide was located?"

Nancy then thought about any painting she had seen in the hotel. "Wait… The only painting of Francois Piermont was the one in the dining room. I see… Maybe I should first go to the dining room to find out more."

When the girl detective got to the dining room, Norma was there. Norma immediately looked up but smiled when she saw Nancy. "Hi, Nancy," she said. "I was just getting a cup of coffee."

Nancy noticed that Norma was wearing her black sweater again. "Didn't you say that you poured water on it?" asked Nancy.

Norma looked at it. "Oh…Well, I dried it with the dryer. Since it's so cold here, I decided to wear it." She then stood up and left the room.

When Nancy was sure Norma was gone, she immediately felt the surface of the painting. "This is a normal piece of art," she murmured. "The paint used was oil paint, and the canvas is quite old." She then held the sides of the painting and twisted it clockwise. "Darn. It doesn't budge."

Loosening hold of the painting, Nancy then twisted it the other way. She managed to hear a click right after she was able to turn the painting upside-down.

"I wonder what that was about?" she murmured. She then went into the kitchen. Taking a look around the kitchen, she started to investigate. "Maybe the click I just heard heads to a secret passage."

She first opened the door to the freezer. She then entered. Inside, she found out that the freezer was just as large as her closet. Feeling around, Nancy decided that there was no secret door.

Then, she touched the door of the freezer. "Wow," she murmured. "It's pretty thick." The door was about three inches thick, and it was made of metal. "I guess it's made to be thick so the coldness inside will be preserved."

She went out of the kitchen and to the front entrance. "I guess it's all right to investigate outside," she muttered. Taking the umbrella, she went outside.

It was still raining, but the wind had calmed down a bit. Nancy searched around the hotel, but she found no trace of anybody's footprints. "That explains it," she muttered. "Nobody has gone outside, and the killer is definitely in this hotel."

As the girl detective turned around, she decided to investigate the forest. "I guess it's not too dangerous as long as I stay within a mile radius of this hotel."

The forest was moist and quiet. Nancy looked around for anything out of the ordinary, but she found nothing after thirty minutes of investigation. Then, she decided to go back.

All of a sudden, she heard something behind her. Nancy turned around. "Nobody's there," she murmured. Shrugging, she headed back to the hotel. Then, another sound came from behind her. She immediately noticed that the sound was made by a person's shoes stepping on twigs. Nancy immediately turned around.

The only thing she saw was a large piece of wood. Before she could see anything else, she felt a sharp pain and immediately blacked out.

When she opened her eyes, Nancy felt a sharp pain on the back of her head. Then, she felt the unusual coldness surrounding her. Getting up, Nancy immediately threw her arms around herself to stay warm. It was dark and cold. Her feet were freezing. She immediately knew that she was in a place that was below freezing. "It's…c-c-cold…" she muttered, her teeth cluttering. She stood up, but her back then bumped into a hard surface.

"What?" She turned around. Then, her back hit another hard surface. Nancy realized that she was in a small room that stayed below zero degree in the middle of summer. "I… I must be in the freezer!"

She immediately felt the door and pushed. However, it did not budge. "Oh, no! It's locked!"

Nancy felt herself shiver harder than ever. Nancy shivered as she tried to warm herself in the locked freezer. "This is bad," she thought. "If I don't get out, it's just a matter of time before I'll turn into a human icicle!"

"I need to get out of here!" she thought, her mind desperately trying to come up with a way to escape. "But…how can I do that?"

Nancy pounded against the door as hard as she could. "Help! Is anybody there?" she shouted, pounding against it again and again. "Please, somebody… Help!"

* * *

_**Postscript: **_**A very fitting climax! The detective is trapped in a freezer that is sound proof, and the place get colder and colder... Will Nancy survive? How will she get help when her cell phone is stolen and Ned's cell phone is broken? The next chapter will be the last one before the killer is revealed! If you know who is the killer, contact me by sending messages.**

**Also, because of the busy schedule during the summer, I will not upload any new story until school starts again in September. (It's pretty ironic that I have less free time during the summer!) But I have rough idea as to what I'll write for the next mystery. In fact, I came up with lots of impossible situations that I plan to use to challenge my readers! There will be five more chapters before this mystery ends, so you still have time to think about how the impossible crime was created.**

**P.S. Please review! **


	16. Detectives' Conclusion

**_Foreword: _Finally! The last chapter before the detectives uncover the solution is up! Because in the next chapter, the detectives will start unveiling who the killers are and how they made the locked room, I'm adding tons of clues into this chapter! I'm sure that some of you might be able to figure out who the killers are by reading this chapter, and I'll be glad to hear what you think.**

**We left off with Nancy Drew in grave danger. How can she escape from the locked freezer? The solution is quite unbelievable. Please read and review!

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**Chapter 15**

_**Detectives' Conclusion**_

Frank had a bad feeling that something was going wrong. But he didn't know what it was about, so he kept thinking about what the trick might be.

Callie came into the room with a grin. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"Nothing," said Frank. "I'm just thinking about the murder."

Frank stared at the notes he had made. "The rust must have something to do with the murder, but I don't know how it can lead to the solution. He then looked at the next note. "And the hair in the cardboard box… I know those two go together, but how…?"

* * *

Nancy leaned against the door, but then, her head bumped into something hard and icy. "What is that?" she wondered, using her hands to feel what it was. She figured out that the iron bar was one of the hinges of the door. Then, she got something on her fingertips as she touched the hinge. It was rust. Nancy Drew immediately remembered the rust that was on the floor of the room where the first murder was committed.

"The rust must mean that someone had moved the bed. Because the rust led from the bed to the door and then back, someone must have moved the bed outside for a while and then moved it back in," she muttered. "But that would mean that a person went through all that trouble to achieve absolutely nothing! What would the purpose of moving the entire bed be?"

Closing her eyes, Nancy thought. "Could it have been one of the caretakers of the hotel?"

Then, she shook her head. "No, if a person wanted to clean the bed or the mattress, he or she would just take the mattress."

Clenching her fist, Nancy bit her lips. "But I still need to get out of here." Nancy shivered again, and the shiver made her remember that she was still locked in the freezer. Five minutes had already passed now, and her skin was starting to feel numb. "This is bad," she muttered. "I need a way out of here."

Just as she muttered so, something fell out of Nancy's pocket. With a clang, the object hit the ground.

"Wh-what was that?" murmured Nancy. She bent down and felt around the icy floor. Then, she found what she was looking for.

It was a quarter.

Grinning, Nancy took the quarter and jammed it into the hinge. She then took her freezing finger and pushed down on the edge of the quarter as hard as she could. When the quarter was slightly bent, she used the bent part of it and scratched all the rust off the hinge. Then, she did the same thing with the other hinge. When she had finished, the girl detective turned the hinges. Unfortunately, the hinge didn't come off, and Nancy bit her lip. She then remembered that she still had Ned's cell phone.

Taking the cell phone out, Nancy warmed it and tried to turn it on. But it didn't.

Nancy hoped that the cell phone could still work and clenched it tightly. Then, she tried to turn it on once more, but her hand was cold and shaking. She knew she didn't have enough time. As her hand shivered uncontrollably, the cell phone fell off her hand.

The girl detective grunted with frustration. She reached out and felt the floor. As she felt the cell phone, she accidentally pushed the on button. The screen lit up, and Nancy couldn't believe her luck. She immediately called Frank for help. A few seconds later, Frank, Ned, and Callie were in front of the freezer. Unlocking it, they were astounded to find the girl detective there, pale and shivering.

"Tell us what happened, Nancy," said Ned, feeling Nancy's hand, which was ice-cold.

"I will," replied the sleuth. "But first, I have to get something warm to drink."

Just as the girl sat down with a cup of hot coffee, the others sat around her in the dining room. "So tell us what happened," said Frank.

Nancy replied, "I solved the second clue and went to the painting of Piermont. When I turned the painting, I heard a click, so I decided to investigate. But when I found nothing after a brief search, I went outside to investigate. As I got to the woods, I noticed that someone was following me, so I turned around. The next thing I knew, I was locked in a freezer! I managed to escape by picking on the hinges."

Callie shivered. "Wow, that must have been terrible! So where do you think the click came from?"

Nancy shrugged. "I thought it came from inside the kitchen. But I don't know, since I didn't do a very thorough job."

"Then let's go and look for the passageway," suggested Ned. "Maybe we can find something if we look now."

The four detectives went into the kitchen to look. Frank opened the cabinet and found something strange. He called the other detectives.

"Hey, look here," he said, pointing to the bottom of the cabinet. Nancy looked. There was dirt in the cabinet. "This must mean that someone stepped into this cabinet for some reason. By looking at these shelves, I'm sure that they are removable. Once you remove all the objects in this cabinet, the secret door must appear."

They then took all the shelves out and looked inside. The cabinet was big enough to fit a normal adult inside, and there was a small space between the board at the back of the cabinet and the side of the cabinet. Frank put his fingers in the space and pulled. Immediately, the board came out and revealed a passage.

"We found it!" Callie said excitedly. "Now, we can finally find out what the secret of this mansion is. Who knows? Maybe we can find the long-lost treasure of Piermont!"

The detectives stepped in. Using her flashlight, Nancy looked around. The passage was quite narrow. Just as the detectives entered the passageway, they faced a dead end.

"What's this? This is the dead end already?" Ned touched the wall. "Huh…? This is…"

"Hey!" said Nancy. "I found another passage here!" She pointed the flashlight to her left. "I see a staircase."

The staircase was quite short. But when the detectives got to the top, they faced yet another dead end. This time, there was no passage to their right or their left. But right in front of them was a ladder.

"Strange," muttered Frank. He reached up and felt the panel above their heads. As he pushed, the panel moved, and they could see that they were right under the floor of the second floor. As the detectives got out, Frank muttered with a grin, "I understand now. The 'ghost' must have used this secret passage to 'disappear' when Edna followed her!"

Nancy nodded. "I get it. We couldn't find any secret door because we always assumed that the door was on the wall. In fact, it wasn't. It was in the floor all along!"

"So that's one mystery solved," said Callie. "But we still don't know what the meaning of this weird secret passage is. I don't think that the owner made it just for the heck of it."

Nancy sighed. "Well, we don't need to waste any more time now. Let's go to my room. I think it's cozier than the dining room."

The others agreed. As the detectives entered Nancy's room, which was right around the corner from the trapdoor, Ned noticed that Xavier was heading downstairs. He was holding a notebook. "Was he spying on us?" Ned wondered.

Still wondering what Xavier was up to, Ned followed the others into Nancy's room. Frank then thought of calling Joe to see if he had any news. Then, Nancy remembered that she had asked Bess and George to do some research for her on Henri. She took the phone in the hotel room and dialed Bess's number. The chubby blond girl answered, and Nancy asked immediately if she had any news.

"George and I were looking through the Internet," said Bess, "and found a particular site that introduced various books on Alphonse Piermont. And guess what? One of the books introduced there was by Henri LaSalle!"

"Really?" asked Nancy, astonished.

"Yeah, and according to the book, Alphonse apparently hid treasure that's worth a small fortune somewhere in the mansion where he once lived," said George. "In other words, there's a treasure hidden in that hotel right now that wasn't uncovered by anyone yet."

Nancy nodded. "That means Henri obviously has interest in Piermont. I just wonder why he tries so hard to do research on him…"

"Could it be that he is related to the magician?" asked Bess.

"That could be, but do you think he would kill two people because of that? I mean, I can't think of a reason to kill people just because of some treasure."

"You never know," George said. "Some people are blind when it comes to gaining a fortune. The only thing they can see is the money that's right in front of them."

Nancy sighed. "Okay. Thanks for the info, girls. I'll call you back later."

As Nancy hung up, Frank asked, "So, did you get any useful info from them?"

The girl detective shrugged. "Henri might or might not be connected to this case. In fact, I think he's way too suspicious. Do you remember the last three cases?"

Frank nodded. "Yeah. Come to think of it, all of them had the most surprising endings. I didn't even suspect a few of them that turned out to be the culprits!"

Nancy nodded. "Just because Henri is suspicious doesn't mean that he must be the killer. What I think we should do is to think about each of the suspects individually."

Callie nodded. "Okay, so I think the person who is least suspicious is Edna Kempton. She is the owner of the hotel and is Chet's aunt. I don't think she has the motive to kill two of her customers. She has alibi for the first murder but has no alibi for the second murder."

To this, Ned said, "But she might have killed the two because they figured out the place where the treasure was hidden. She might have wanted the money all to herself and killed them."

Frank shook his head. "I don't think so. The reason is that this hotel is her property. If anybody finds anything in here, whatever they found will be Edna's possession."

"And the most suspicious is Henri," declared Callie. "I think he knows a lot more than he tells. Besides, I don't know why he keeps such a detailed account on Nancy's cases. He didn't have an alibi for the first murder but has an alibi for the second one."

Nancy said, "I don't think we should be too concerned with him. After all, he is just one of the suspects. And I think that there may be two killers."

"So even if he was the killer," said Ned, "we still need to figure out the other one in order to close this case."

Frank looked at the list of suspects he jotted down. "So the next person who is suspicious is Xavier Churchill. He had an alibi for the first murder but didn't have one for the second murder."

Nancy nodded. "We still don't know why he stayed in this hotel after the previous owner died. Does he like this house that much? Or is it because he wants to stay in here for some other reason?"

"Like the treasure," murmured Callie. "I'm sure the reason he chose to be the caretaker after he lost his job as a gardener was because he wanted to continue looking for the treasure!"

Nancy looked at the list one more time. "Oh, and there's the cook Derek Ogden. He looks really nice and intelligent, but that could be misleading. He is the only one with two solid alibis. In the first murder, he was seen at the table when the noise was heard upstairs. And during the second murder, he was in the kitchen preparing for breakfast. So it's impossible for him to kill anybody even if he did have an accomplice."

"I'm sure he doesn't have anything to do with this case," Callie said. "But I have to admit that he might be suspicious. He was the one who first found the footprints on the floor when we went upstairs after we heard the sound of breaking glass."

"I just don't know who to trust here in this hotel," sighed Ned.

Nancy, after looking through the list once more, said, "And the next one is Amy Takahashi. When I searched in her room, I found a photograph of her with both my mom and me. She had an alibi for the first murder but didn't have an alibi for the second killing."

Callie thought for a while. "So it's clear that Amy knows your mother. No, I think she's more than that. I think she knew your mother well enough to be in a picture with her."

"And I don't think she's really that much of an airhead," added Ned. "I think she is really a smart person who is concealing her wits for some reason."

Scrolling down the list of suspects, Nancy said, "And we shouldn't forget about Norma."

Frank nodded. "I'm still suspicious about the picture frame I saw when Callie and I went to her room. I just don't know why she put the frame facedown after we noticed it?"

Nancy said, "When I searched her room, I found that photograph. There was a man, a woman, a girl, and a boy. But the boy's face was blurred, probably because of age. She doesn't have an alibi for the first killing but has one for the second killing."

"Hmm…" murmured Ned. "All these must mean something. I just feel like I'm missing something important here."

Nancy turned the page of her notebook. Just as she did so, the pen which she was holding scratched Ned on the arm.

"Oh! Sorry, Ned," she apologized, looking at the wound.

"It's okay," said Ned. "I get scratched and bruised a lot during football practices." He then chuckled lightly.

"I got a band-aid in my purse," said Nancy. "I'll look for it." After finding the band-aid, she applied it on to her boyfriend's arm.

Callie watched while Nancy applied the band-aid. Then, she stopped as she thought about the wound. "Wait a minute…" she muttered. "That person…"

Nancy looked at her with interest. She asked, "What is it?"

Callie shook her head. "It's nothing."

Ned then thought of something and got up. "I want to check out something," he said, then went out of the room. Nancy then took out her pen and started scribbling something with it. Frank watched her.

"Hey," he said. Nancy looked up. "I didn't know you owned a fountain pen."

Nancy looked at her pen. It was quite old-fashioned and worn. She smiled embarrassedly. "It's my dad's. He used it since when he first got a job as an attorney."

She then started scribbling again, but she found that the pen wasn't working as well as she hoped. She started shaking the pen. Instantly, some black ink flew out of the pen and landed on Callie. The girl shouted as the ink landed on her head. "Ah!"

"Oh, sorry again!" said Nancy. "I don't know why, but I'm clumsier than usual."

Frank watched as Callie took some tissue and started wiping her face. He then saw that some was on her shirt as well. "Hey, there are some spots on your shirt."

Callie looked down but didn't bother to wipe it. "It's okay. My shirt is black, and nobody can tell if I had some black spots on my black T-shirt…"

Something in Callie's mind clicked. Everything fell into place now. Her eyes got round. "That's it…" she muttered. "I got it…"

Frank looked at Callie in astonishment. "You mean…"

Callie nodded. "I know who the killers are. I also know what the evidences are!"

Frank couldn't hide his excited expression. "Really? I just figured out how the killer accomplished the impossible crime!"

Nancy and Callie looked at him in surprise. Nancy said, "I can't believe it! And I know what the motives for killing those two people are!"

Just then, Ned came into the room looking quite excited. "Guys!" he shouted. "I figured it out! I know where the treasure is!"

As the detectives looked at one another, they immediately knew that it was time to reveal the tricks to the bloody magic show.

"Everything is solved now," said Frank with a grin. "Now, it's time to reveal the truth!"

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_**Postscript: **_**Each of the detectives found out a portion of the truth to the bloody magic show. Who can be the killers? Why did they kill the two victims? What are the evidences? How did they commit such an impossible crime? And, last but not least, where is the treasure? Read the next chapter to find out!**

**Oh, and don't forget to review! **


	17. Disclosure 1: Unveiled

**_Foreword: _At last, after sixteen long chapters, the answer is beginning to be unveiled! This chapter covers who the killer was, what the evidence is, and where the treasure was hidden! The next chapter will cover how the first murder was done and who the _second_ killer is (and yes, there are two killers in this story!). So, please enjoy this chapter and REVIEW, please!

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**Chapter 16**

_**Disclosure 1: Unveiled**_

"I think we should call all the guests in this hotel to the dining room. Help me tell everyone," Frank said, looking at the clock.

When everyone was gathered at the dining hall, Frank looked at them and smiled. "I'm glad you could come," he said. "The reason we called you here was because we figured out the entire mystery."

The guests couldn't hide their surprise. "Really?" murmured Edna. Henri looked at Frank with curiosity.

Frank nodded. "But first of all, I want to announce that the treasure which was rumored to be hidden somewhere in this hotel really exists."

Xavier clenched his fist. "Don't be ridiculous! I lived in this mansion for five years but didn't find a treasure!"

Ned grinned. "That's because you didn't look at the right place. But according to the coded message, if you rotate the painting of Piermont that is placed in this room," Ned said, walking toward the painting and rotating it, "the secret door will be opened."

Suddenly, a loud creak made the guests jump with surprise. Ned went into the kitchen and motioned the others to follow him.

Once inside the kitchen, he said, "Now, the door is located right behind this cabinet that holds food. If you take all the shelves out, you'll see that there's an opening between the board and the cabinet. Pulling on that space allows you to open the door leading to a secret passageway that remained hidden for decades!"

Ned opened the door to the passage and entered. The others followed, but then they faced a wall. Ned turned to the stairs. "And if you climb up the ladder over there, you can get to the dead end on the second floor."

Edna gasped. "So that's how the phantom disappeared after I followed him to the corner!"

Ned nodded. "That's right. When the mysterious guest made you notice him, he led you to the corner. When you couldn't see him as he turned around the corner, he quickly went down the panel on the floor. As you turned around the corner, you didn't see him anymore because he was right beneath you. He then escaped to the kitchen and hid there until you went into your room."

Ned then turned to the wall. "But there's one more door. You wouldn't know if you just looked at it, but this wall is actually made of wood. When you put your finger between the wall and the edge of the wooden board, you can take the board out." He did so, and the guests were amazed to find that there was a hidden door that was made of steel. Ned turned the knob, and the door opened. Inside, there was a pile of gold bullions stacked on top of teach other. The guests looked in awe.

"So this is the treasure that was hidden for decades!" Callie murmured, obviously astonished. "This treasure is worth a small fortune!"

Norma murmured, "But why did the person made Edna think that the hotel was haunted?"

"That's because he didn't want Edna to stay in this mansion any longer. He wanted her to be gone so he could search for treasure in peace." Ned then turned toward the guests. He pointed to one of them and said, "Am I correct, Mr. Xavier Churchill?"

Everyone's attention was turned toward the caretaker. "Wh…What are you talking about?" he hastily said. "I don't know anything about the treasure! Honest!"

"Yes, you did know about the treasure. The treasure was the reason you chose to stay in this mansion. The other reason you wanted Edna to be gone was because you knew that even if you found the treasure, it would still not be yours. In other words, by sending Edna away, you could have anything you found in this house!"

Edna turned to Xavier with astounded expression. "I-Is that true, Xavier?"

Xavier didn't answer anything for a minute, but he then grinned. "That's right," he said bitterly. "I wanted that treasure ever since I heard about it from my father, who was the first owner of the house after Alphonse Piermont died. He dreamed about finding the treasure, but he died twenty years ago. Because he was gone, the house was sold to another man. But I didn't want him to find the treasure, so I forced him out by making the house look as if it was haunted. Of course, it wasn't, but he was scared enough to pack up and go.

"And when that girl named Voorhees came, I couldn't force myself to force her out, so I became her gardener. After a while, however, she died also. Then, the mansion went to Edna Kempton." He glared at Edna. "I didn't want you to find the treasure, so I became a caretaker. The reason I became a caretaker was because I didn't want to leave this house. The other reason was that I could then keep an eye on you just in case."

Edna couldn't say anything. She stared at Xavier with shock.

"Heh, can't answer, can you?" he said bitterly. "Well, when you found the coded message, I began to be nervous. I was afraid you might get to the treasure before me. That's why I made you to believe that the hotel was haunted."

Derek interrupted, "But how did you find the passageway?"

Xavier laughed. "I knew it because I used the passageway as my hideout when I was still small. I used to explore the mansion. As a result of it, I found out that by turning the painting, I could open a secret door leading to a hidden room."

Norma was curious. "So you were the one who murdered June and Gary Friedrich? Did you kill them because they found the treasure before you could?"

Suddenly, Xavier had a frightened expression on his face. "No!" he shouted. "I didn't do it! I didn't do anything to those two! I've never even met them before, and they didn't even know about the treasure!"

"He isn't the one," someone said. Now, everybody turned toward the person who just spoke. It was Callie.

"Then who was it?" asked Derek, impatiently. "Who else could have committed two murders?"

"But first," said Callie, "let's get out of here. I'd rather talk somewhere else. This place is too stuffy."

When everyone got out of the passageway, Callie smiled. "I know who the killers are," she said. "And I know the way to make them confess!"

Callie then said, "The clue I found for the first murder came from Nancy."

Nancy looked confused. "Me? How? I don't remember giving you any clue."

The blond girl grinned. "You didn't know it, but you gave me the most important clue; where the evidence might be."

Frank remembered the time when Nancy spilled some ink on Callie's black T-shirt. "Do you mean when she spilled some ink on you just a while ago?"

Callie nodded. "But not only that. She also scratched Ned with her pen. That gave me a clue as well. If a person got some blood on his shirt, he would change it right away, right? But if he wore it later, the red blood would turn black over time. But I'll explain that later. First, I must unveil the killer."

She then went on. "As you all know, the first murder occurred when most of us were downstairs in the dining room. The only three people who were not there when the murder took place were Henri, Gary, and Norma."

The guests looked nervously at Henri and Norma.

"But Gary was killed in the second murder. That means we can narrow the suspects to Henri and Norma."

Norma gasped, "Do you say that you think that one of us is the killer?"

Callie nodded. "And to see who the killers might be, let's think about who actually went to Nancy's room when we all found out that Nancy was missing after we saw that there was nobody in June's room. Everybody except Henri and Norma got to the room. And according to my memory, one of the two didn't appear until a few minutes after the rest of us got to the room."

Turning around, Callie stared at Henri and Norma. Raising one hand, she pointed toward one of the two suspects. "You are the first Magician!" she said.

The person whom she was pointing was Norma. Everyone in the room turned to her, and she stood with a surprised expression on her face.

"Y-You think that I'm the killer?" she finally managed to say. She then said, "That's ludicrous! How do you think I committed such a crime? I know that I was the last one to get to Nancy's room, but that doesn't mean I killed June!"

Callie nodded. "I don't know how you did it, but Frank does. What I found out was your sweater. When we first saw you, you were wearing a black sweater, but after the murder, you changed your clothes. Why? That's because you got wet when you shattered the windows."

Norma bit her lips but remained quiet.

"Because you thought that being wet would make you seem suspicious, you quickly went into your room and changed your clothes. And I see that you are wearing that same black sweater that you have been wearing before."

Norma looked down. Sure enough, she was wearing the sweater which she had worn on the night of the first murder.

"Of course I'm wearing it!" said Norma. "It's beginning to be chilly in here, and this is the only sweater that I have! Besides, you have mentioned a single proof that can say that I killed June."

Callie said, "Sure, I haven't mentioned a single thing about evidence, but you might be surprised to hear that the evidence is still on your body."

"Huh?" Norma looked at Callie with an astounded expression. "What do you mean by that?"

The girl detective pointed toward the sweater. "You were lucky because you wore a black sweater, but it will be quite unlucky when they do a test on your sweater. Because June was stabbed, it's quite likely that her murderer got some of her blood on the clothes which she was wearing.

"And from seeing how you only changed your sweater, I think that the blood got on your sweater but stayed unnoticed because its color is black. I'm sure even you didn't realize that you had blood on it your, since if you did, then you wouldn't be wearing this right now."

Norma grimaced. "But what about the crime itself? How could I commit such an absurd murder without entering the room or being found by Frank, who searched the place right after the door was opened?"

"That I can explain," said Frank. Now, everybody's gaze turned to Frank. He held a grin on his face.

"It's quite a simple trick, really. But you made an illusion by using a simple trick."

Frank looked squarely into Norma's eyes. "You were truly a magician. The main job of a magician is to make a situation seem impossible, while it's not impossible at all. In a sense, you were just like a magician. Even though the murder itself was possible, you made it into a complex case that people would think was done using pure magic."

Frank went to the stairs. "Come upstairs! I'll show you that nothing is impossible!"

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**_Postscript: _As you can see, Ned and Callie, the two characters who you don't see solving mysteries everyday, have solved two of the baffling mysteries. And in the next chapter, Frank and Nancy will be the ones unveiling the truth. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and am waiting to hear from you. If you have any comment, please say it in your review. Thanks for reading!**


	18. Disclosure 2: Hide and Seek

**_Foreword: _This chapter describes the trick, the second killer, and the ultimate evidence. You might be surprised to read what the rust that led from the bed to the door and then back inside actually stood for. The trick itself is simple, but it's hard to think of because of the human psychology. Also, there will be two more chapters before this story concludes. Now that you know who the killers are, there is only one mystery left: why they committed two murders. Find out the tragic reason behind the killers' motive in the next chapter. And don't forget to review, please!

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**Chapter 17**

_**Disclosure 2: Hide and Seek**_

The detective had a broad grin on his face as he stood in front of the suspects.

Frank first said, "I solved the entire mystery concerning how the first murder was done. But first, let's go upstairs to the scene of the first crime. It'll be easier to explain if we reenact what we did that night." He then led the group to the hallway right before Room 13. When he got there, Frank turned around and faced everyone.

"Now, we saw that the window closest to this room was shattered, and we then noticed that the footprints led from the window into Room 13. So Edna went downstairs to get the key, since the key was returned earlier by someone. When she came back she immediately opened the door, and Frank searched the room. However, nobody was in there, so he got out. When he did so, Derek noticed that the footprints led to the window that was right around the corner. Everybody went there. Then, someone remembered that Nancy wasn't in the group." Frank looked at Nancy.

"Of course, Norma planned everything so Nancy would get all the blame. She first made her sleep by sending sleeping gas into the room through a tube which she slid through the small space beneath the door. When she was sure Nancy was asleep, Norma then went to June's room and killed her. The second murder happened just like that. The killer knocked on Nancy's door to make her come out and then knocked her out." Frank opened the door.

"And as we went to Nancy's room to wake her up, we noticed that the door was locked as well. Edna then went to retrieve the master key and opened the door using it. Finding Nancy there, we went back to Room 13 and found June's body."

Frank paused the narration. "Am I correct so far?" he asked. Everyone nodded.

"But how do you explain the reason June appeared in the room?" asked Norma. "If we were to trust your statement that nobody was inside, then how did the killer enter the room after door was locked?"

The detective grinned. "It was unnecessary," he replied. "The murderer didn't have to walk through walls; she was hiding in the room all along. In other words, she hid in the room when I was searching it."

Derek shouted, "Th-that's impossible! How could she have stayed unnoticed? I thought you searched the place thoroughly. There was no way a person could hide in a room without being noticed. You said that you searched behind the doors, under the bed, and even in the bathroom. If she were the killer, then how did she stay unnoticed?"

Frank grinned. "I can explain the trick, but first I must get ready. Could you please go downstairs until I tell you to come up? In order to do this magic trick, I must first prepare for it."

While murmuring complaints, the suspects and the rest of the detectives went downstairs. In less than a minute, Frank called them to come back. When they went upstairs again, he was standing in front of the room with a broad grin on his face. He said to them, "Okay, I'm ready. Now, I'll go into the room and stay hidden the entire time. Go ahead and search, but I'm sure it will be hard for you to find me."

Then, closing the door, the detective then called them to open it a few seconds later. When they opened the door, the detectives and the others were surprised to see that Frank was gone.

Nancy searched behind the door and in the bathroom, but Frank was nowhere to be seen. Ned checked the window, but it was locked from inside.

"He…he disappeared!" muttered Callie.

"No, I didn't," came Frank's voice. Everyone looked around and finally stared at the place where his voice was coming from—the bed.

The detective then crawled out of the bed, and stood up looking at everyone's astounded expressions.

"How did you get in there?" asked Edna, surprised. Frank grinned.

"It's a simple trick. When everybody came, the killer simply hid the victim's body in the storage room and hid herself in the bed. However, this bed isn't what you think." Frank took the end of the mattress and easily lifted it up. To their surprise, the guests found that the mattress wasn't a mattress at all. It was the cardboard box in which the mattress was put and carried.

"Now do you understand the trick?" asked Frank. "I searched under the bed but found nothing, but I didn't even bother to search literally in the bed because I knew that nobody could hide there. Simply put, the killer used human psychology to make herself invisible!"

Everybody now nodded as they understood how simple the trick was. Norma alone stood with a look of sheer horror on her face.

Nancy still had questions. "But Frank, how did Norma put the real mattress back in here?"

"It's simple. Norma knew that we'll notice that you weren't with us, Nancy. When we did notice that you were gone, we went to your room, and Edna went downstairs to get the master key. While everybody was gone, the killer came out of the cardboard box and pushed the entire bed out of the room. This was possible because the bed had rollers, and it could even take a woman to do this simple trick. Anyway, after the killer rolled the bed into the storage room, she put the real mattress back onto the bed frame and rolled the bed back inside. That was why the rust was leading from the room to the storage room and then back inside Room 13. The killer then needed to get out and join the crowd."

"Wow," murmured Nancy. "That's a really unique trick! So that was how the killer made the crime look impossible when it was actually quite possible!"

Norma then grinned. "Oh, come on, you guys!" she said with a smile. "You can't possibly say that I was the one who used that trick. Even Henri over there could have done it!" she then said, staring at Henri. "It's also impossible for me to kill somebody when I was in the dining room during the second murder. Imagine that! Nobody could have done such a thing because everybody but Nancy had at least one solid alibi."

"That's true," said Ned. "I remember seeing her at breakfast. How do you explain the second murder?"

Callie said, "I can explain that." She then looked at the remaining guests. "The reason she had a solid alibi for the second murder was because she had an accomplice to do the work for her."

"An accomplice!" Everybody was surprised.

"You mean, there is one more killer in this room?" asked Edna.

Callie nodded. "And according to what I saw, Edna, Xavier, and Amy didn't show up for breakfast during the second killing. That narrowed the list of suspects. But that wasn't the only thing.

"I noticed something very peculiar as we searched the scene of the second murder. We found that there was a trace of blood on Gary's fingertips. By looking at the blood, we found that it was quite new. But we didn't find a single scratch on the victim himself. That can only mean one thing."

"So that means…" started Ned.

"Yes. The victim scratched the killer when he was attacked. Also, the victim had blood on his left hand. That also indicates that the killer was scratched on his right arm."

"What!" murmured Amy. "But the only person who has a wound on his or her right arm is…"

The eyes of the guests all turned toward one person in the crowd.

"That's right," Callie said with a grin. "The Second Magician is you, Derek Ogden!"

Derek showed a surprised expression on his face. He then noticed his bandaged right arm and backed away immediately.

"Me…? Do you think that I'm the killer?" he asked with an astounded tone. "That can't be possible! You mentioned the fact that Edna, Xavier, and Amy were the only people who didn't show up for breakfast! I was in the kitchen the entire time!"

Callie nodded. "I remember seeing you get in and out of the kitchen. But do you know what else is in the kitchen?"

Edna gasped. "That's right! The secret passageway!"

"Correct," said Callie. She turned to Derek. "You used the passageway to get upstairs and created two perfect alibis for yourself! You thought that having two alibis would get your name taken off the list of suspects, but I didn't fall for that trick. A person with the tightest alibi can still be a murderer."

Derek still didn't budge.

"And don't deny it, Derek," said Callie. "When the police do a test on the blood found on the fingers of the victim, they'd notice that your blood is a perfect match. You won't get away with this crime, and neither will your accomplice!"

Norma then shouted, "This is pathetic! Sure, he might have left evidence behind, but there's no evidence that proves that I'm a killer! The evidence that you said earlier was only circumstantial evidence. It's hardly solid enough to put me behind bars."

Frank knew that she was right; having blood on her sweater didn't mean that she was the killer. Callie bit her lip and stayed quiet. Frank then grinned as he remembered something that he found. "If you want an evidence, then I've got one for you," he said. Callie immediately turned to Frank with a surprised expression.

Frank went upstairs and came back down a few seconds later. He was holding the box which the killer used for the first murder. He then turned it upside down. A strand of hair fell from inside the box. Norma looked at it with astonishment.

"The hair in this box will prove that someone had been crawling inside it. The DNA of this hair will surely match yours, Norma. And I'm sure you won't be able to say anything to get yourself out of this marsh. Admit it—there's no such thing as a perfect crime."

Even though they were surprised at the evidence, the two still didn't budge. Nancy knew that it was still not enough to make the two confess. "I'm not sure why you two committed two murders, but I'm sure the motive has to do with your parents."

Norma and Derek looked at Nancy with shock.

"Parents?" asked Ned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that they are siblings, Ned. Brother and sister."

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**_Postscript: _The fact that Derek and Norma were siblings might have surprised some of you. I'm sure most of you know what the motive might be, but you might be surprised at other mysteries surrounding the characters who weren't killers, like Amy and Henri. Why did they seem so strange when they weren't even connected to the murders? Find out in the next two chapters of this mystery! Again, please review after reading this chapter; I'd like to hear from you!**


	19. Disclosure 3: Haunting Past

**_Foreword: _This is the last chapter in the disclosure. The motive is finally known, and there will be another mystery solved... The ending will truly shock some of you. Also, next chapter will tie all loose ends together, so don't miss that one, either!**

**In this chapter, the tragic past of the two killers are revealed, and the pieces of the puzzles are starting to be put together. Why did they decide to kill two people? What made a sister and brother murderers? How can love towards someone turn into hatred towards the others? All pieces of the puzzle are interconnected, and the complex web of intrigue, murders, love, hatred, and greed are beginning to be revealed as well. What will happen next?**

**Read, enjoy, and review, please! I'd really appreciate if you could just say a few words saying about what you felt when reading this story.**

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Chapter 18**

_**Disclosure 3: Haunting Past**_

Everybody stood there, astounded, staring at the two people who were just accused of murder. "But…how did you know?" asked Edna. "I never thought that they were siblings. They don't have many things in common."

Nancy grinned. Sometimes, siblings don't have the same traits as each other. Look at Frank and Joe. One is dark-haired, and the other is blond. It all has to do with the gene pool. But I'm sure when their blood are tested, the result will surely turn out clearly."

There was a thief that entered my house at dawn just a few days ago. And the thief happened to drop a ring behind after stealing the file that contained papers and information about the case that my mother solved fifteen years ago. The ring had the initials BP and IM. My father did some research and found that BP was Bertha Palatine and IM was Ian Milton. They were married twenty-five years ago, and they had two kids. One was a boy named James and the other was a girl named Diana."

The two killers didn't say a word. Nancy grinned. "I knew it," she said. "Because you two were the sole witnesses of the murder that took place at the mansion, you were put into the witness protection program so you won't be targeted by the people who wanted to avenge the killer. But you two kept in contact years after you two were separated. And when you two finally met, you found that the same three people killed both of your parents: June Quinn, Linton Quinn, and Gary Friedrich. You thought of a way to avenge your parents' death by killing all three of them, but Linton was sent to jail a while after being sent to prison. He killed himself in there, and you decided to kill June and Gary instead."

Nancy turned to the two killers again. "But somehow, you found out that my mother was killed by the two people whom you were planning to kill. Therefore, you thought that I was a perfect scapegoat, since I would have the motive to kill June and Gary. So you decided to knock me out just before you committed your crimes, so I won't have a single alibi for any of the murders that are committed here."

Silence followed. Nancy and all the detectives looked at the two suspects who were looking at them without saying a word. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Edna muttered, "I can't believe it! You two killed June and Gary? But why did you have to do that? Wasn't a better way to resolve these situations?"

Suddenly, Derek broke out into laughter. The others stared, dumbfounded, as the man continued laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Henri.

Derek snickered as he opened his eyes and looked at him straight into his eyes. Henri flinched. The man's dazzling blue eyes were suddenly as cold as ice, and his face seemed like a white mask that held no expression.

"I have to say, detectives," he said, turning to the detectives, "that I didn't know that you were such brilliant detectives. I'd say that I haven't met a single person more cunning than you."

He then looked at the window. "Yes, I'm the Magician," he said. "I am the magician that lives to get revenge. You see, ever since my sister and I witnessed the horrifying murder in which my mother was killed, we were planning to avenge her."

"But why?" asked Callie. "I don't understand why you are avenging your parents in such a complicated way! Did you really have to use this mansion as the scene of the crime?"

This time, Norma was the one to talk. "I know that this feeling of hatred won't be understood by anyone. From the time our parents were killed, we held the fire of hatred that burned inside us until the second we accomplished our revenge."

Derek grimaced. "All these started just sixteen years ago…

…

Our father was the CEO of a large corporation that earned billions of dollars of money worldwide. In fact, it still would be if he weren't killed. When we were still young, my father died in a mysterious car accident that took his life. Because he died, our mother became the new CEO of the company. At that time, June Quinn, Linton Quinn, and Gary Friedrich were mother's good friends. But as my mother took control of the company, those three started to show their true intentions.

One day, when we two were at home with our mother, we heard a knock on the door. When mother answered, she saw three people standing there. They were June, Linton, and Gary. They said something about making a decision for the company that mother was now the CEO of and went into the house. We were in our room playing, so we didn't hear much, but when Diana here went to the kitchen to get a cup of water, she saw the most horrifying sight. Mother was on the floor with blood on the floor. My sister and I didn't know what was going on, so we went to her, and we saw the three people kneeling over. One of them, who turned out to be Linton, had a knife on her hand, and it was red. They might have been surprised to see us, for they then went out of the house as fast as they could.

The police then came to our house, but due to lack of evidence, the investigation did not go quite well. But we saw the killers and told the police all this, but they didn't find anybody who fit the description that we gave them.

Even though the police were baffled by this case, a detective that was known for her skill in finding evidence was not. She used her time to collect evidences that the police had missed. And by finding the strand of hair that was left under the desk at the scene of the crime, she was able to convict Linton of first-degree murder.

However, Diana and I were put into a witness protection program that gave us new names and identities. Because of this, we lived our lives as Derek and Norma. Also, because of this, we were separated from each other for years.

But one day just a few months after Linton was convicted, I was at a mall when I witnessed a hit-and-run. What shocked me the most was the fact that the two people riding the car were actually the two people who came to our house right before mother was murdered. I immediately ran away, afraid that the killers might have seen me.

The young redheaded girl who also saw the faces of the killer was too shocked to say anything, so I decided not to say anything because of fear that the two people will try to kill my sister and me.

Years passed after that, and I was at France as a chef's apprentice. By chance, I met Diana, who was there on a business trip from the US. We immediately recognized each other and talked for a while, sharing our memories for the last decade.

Also, that was the time when Nancy Drew was coming to France with her friends to solve a mystery involving ninety-nine steps and an alchemy lab, as we found later. When we saw her face in the newspaper, we immediately knew that she was the girl from the car accident. And after searching through a few websites and newspapers, we found that the woman killed by the two people who killed our mother was a detective who convicted Linton but not the other two.

After more research, we found the truth behind our father's mysterious death. According to the article, the car was a gray Volkswagen, and the car that ran over Mrs. Drew was also a gray Volkswagen. We then knew that our father was also killed by the three devils!

…

Derek finished his narration and clenched his fist. "Because of them, our lives were completely destroyed. Because of their greed, my family was shattered. I could never forget them, and I never will. If they were still alive, I would still murder them with my own two hands! They are the devils that should be punished for their greed!"

Frank asked, "But why did you make your plan so all the blame would go to Nancy? She didn't do anything bad to you!"

Norma looked apologetically at Nancy. "I'm sorry, Nancy," she said. "We didn't mean for you to get all the blames, but we needed someone who can be the scapegoat. We wanted a person who could get others' attention so we could finish our revenge. I'm really sorry."

"But why did you knock me out and locked me in the freezer?" asked Nancy.

"Huh?" Derek and Norma both looked at each other, confused. "We didn't do that, Nancy," Derek said.

"What?" Nancy was also confused. "Then who…"

Suddenly, before anybody could say anything, Henri lounged at Norma and pulled something out of his pocket. He pointed the black object to Norma as he grabbed her neck.

"Ah!" Norma screamed. The guests and the detectives stared in amazement as Henri showed them what he was holding: a gun.

"What are you doing?" shouted Frank.

Henri snickered. "I'm afraid this is the end here," he said. "I'm glad you detectives did all the jobs for me without my getting my hands dirty."

Nancy suddenly realized the truth. "I knew it! You are the relative of the magician and know that there is treasure hidden in this hotel. And you tried to find it while disguised as a hotel guest!"

Henri was quite amazed at Nancy's deduction. "I'm surprised, Miss Detective," he said. "And yes, I'm the grandson of Piermont and wanted to get my hands on that treasure ever since I was a young boy. When I found this hotel, I was more than delighted to go and look around. However, you detectives were able to find the treasure more efficiently than me. Felicitations!"

"But let Norma go!" Derek shouted.

"Uh-uh-uh," Henri said. "I must get the gold bars into my car first. You see, I came here already in my car but hid it in the forest. But I sure was surprised to see Nancy going close to my car. I had no choice but to knock her out and lock her in the freezer." He paused, as if thinking to himself what the next action should be. "Now then," he finally said, "let's get the gold bars into my car out in the forest, shall we? And don't do anything funny, since I'll be holding this girl hostage." He pushed the gun to Norma's temple. She winced as she felt the coldness of the weapon.

Derek gritted his teeth but could do nothing to save his sister.

"Okay, let's see… You and you," he said, pointing to Frank and Xavier, "carry one of the gold bars into the car while you two"—he pointed to Ned and Derek—"carry another bar to my car."

Just as Frank and Xavier were about to go to the hidden passageway, Ned threw a vase into the wall. While Henri's attention was drawn to the vase, Ned lounged at him and grabbed the gun away from him. With a grunt, Henri fell onto the ground.

Norma managed to free herself from the captor's grasp and ran to the door. As Ned and Henri quarreled, Ned kicked the gun right out of the window. With a splash, the gun sank into the bottom of the ocean.

Furious, Henri grabbed Ned by the neck and threw him away. Then, he ran to the hallway.

"You won't get away!" Ned shouted and ran after him.

Nancy realized that it was a trap. "Ned! No!" she shouted, but her boyfriend didn't hear her. Ned continued to chase after Henri.

As Henri got to the wide window, he turned around and waited. When Ned turned around the corner, he noticed Henri. Henri then punched Ned in the stomach and kicked him to the window. The brown-haired detective stopped just before the window, and the culprit ran to him to attack again. However, Ned dodged the man's punch just a fraction of a second before.

With a scream, Henri fell out of the window. But as he did so, he grabbed Ned's arm, and the detective was pulled down into the rough ocean.

Nancy arrived just when she saw her boyfriend disappear behind the open window.

"Ned!"

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_**Postscript: **_**Because of the busy schedule in the summer, I will be taking a short break from writing. But I do promise that my next mystery will be just as shocking as, if not more shocking than, all of my previous mysteries! The name of the next mystery in this series will be announced next week, right after the epilogue to this story. There will also be a short introduction as to what the next story will be about. The next mystery will start in the middle of July, and I wish you'll keep reading my next story just like how you kept reading this one. Thanks for reading, and please review!**


	20. Epilogue: Farewell to Memories

**_Foreword: _Here it is, the final chapter of this mystery that I started at the beginning of this year. Ad it took me six months to finish! I hope you enjoyed this story, and here is an epilogue that will reveal the answers to all the remaining mysteries. At the end of this chapter, I'll announce the title and rough storyline of my next mystery. And don't forget to check out my next story that will come out in July! Oh, and don't forget to review, please!**

**

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Epilogue**

_**Farewell to Memories**_

Nancy managed to catch her boyfriend's arm before he fell into the ocean. "Ned, hurry… Grab my arm!" she shouted, noticing her hand slip.

Ned grunted as he showed her what he was holding. Nancy gasped as she saw Henri, unconscious. Ned was grabbing the back of the man's shirt, and two of them were dangling from the window.

"I can't, Nancy," he said weakly. "I can't let Henri go."

"Why!" asked Nancy, desperate. "Please, Ned! Grab my hand!"

As she said so, her hand kept slipping. "Help!" she called to the others. She then turned to Ned. "They'll be here shortly," she said. "Now hurry! Grab my hand!"

But then, the hand slipped. Nancy's eyes got wide with shock as she shouted, "NO!"

In an instant, Ned grabbed Nancy's bracelet, which she had on her right wrist. The bracelet that he had given to Nancy was now the only thing that prevented Ned from falling into the ocean.

However, the bracelet started to crack as both Ned and Henri's weights were on it. Nancy bit her lip as the bracelet cut her skin. And, with a loud crack, it broke in half.

Ned started falling again, but this time, another hand grabbed his wrist. Surprised, Nancy turned to her right. "Callie!"

Callie Shaw, who came just a few seconds after Nancy, was holding on to Ned's hand. "Now we're even," she said to Ned with a grin. Ned grinned.

"Thanks," he said.

As Frank and the others arrived, Ned was finally pulled into the hotel. Henri was unconscious, probably because of hitting his head against the wall when he fell.

"So what should we do now?" asked Edna. "We're still trapped here, and the police hadn't arrived yet!"

"I'll go call the police and ask them how the landslides are coming along," said Frank. He then went to the telephone.

Nancy remembered the time when the files in her home were stolen. She asked Derek, "Did you break into my house to steal the file that contained information on my mother? And were you the one who stole my purse when I got here?"

"Yeah," Derek admitted. "If you want it back, it's in my room. And so are the cell phone and purse that I stole from you." He sighed. "I'm really sorry I had to pull you into this. I really didn't mean to harm you or steal your stuff. I was planning to return it to you once the whole thing was over."

Nancy nodded. "But I have to give you something that you might want back. It's the ring that I found in my house after the robbery. I believe the ring is the one your father gave to your mother when they were married."

Derek laughed. "Thanks, Nancy," he said. "I guess the entire investigation about my family started when I accidentally left that ring in the crime scene, didn't it?"

"Yup," Nancy replied. "I'll call my father and tell him to send it to you. I'm sure we're all done with it now."

She then went into Derek's room and took the files and her bag. When she returned, Henri finally woke up. He grunted as he tried to free himself, but his body was tied. "Curses!" he muttered. "My plan should have worked!"

Nancy looked at Henri. "But why did you do this, Henri?" she asked.

"Why?" Henri repeated. "Why? That's because I needed money, young detective! Lots of it! I used to live in a mansion with my father, but after he died, I've been living like a commoner. I wanted my life of glory back, and I needed the gold to do it!"

Ned sighed. "You won't believe what greed will turn people into."

Nancy nodded in agreement. Just then, Frank returned from the lobby. He said, "The good news is that the landslides have been cleared. And the bad news is, we have to wait here for another two hours for the police to arrive."

Callie smiled. "I guess I can deal with that. As long as I know that I'm safe from the Magician."

Two hours later, the police arrived at the mansion and took everybody back to the town. The guests and the detective were then brought to the police station. There, Joe was waiting for his brother to arrive and was happy to see everybody again. "So how was the mystery?" he asked.

"Complicated," said Frank. "You won't believe it. Four mysteries were intertwined to form one complicated mystery. There was a wealthy magician's grandson who wanted to get his hands on the treasure that his grandfather had hidden decades ago, and there was the man who looked for the treasure in order to buy the house that was owned by his father many years ago. And there were also two killers who wanted to avenge their parents' deaths that were caused by two people whose greed caused them to commit two murders as well. Let's just say that the only people who weren't involved in any case was Edna and Amy."

Nancy still had questions about the Japanese artist. When she saw Amy, she called to her. "Hi!" she said. "Can I ask you a question?"

Amy smiled. "I guess you already figured out that I was involved with your mother."

Nancy was surprised. "How—how did you know?"

The artist smiled. "I noticed that some things in my room were shifted right after dinner, in which you didn't attend. So I knew that you were searching my room. And I also found that you opened my suitcase and saw the picture with me standing by your mother."

Nancy blushed, surprised to see how her actions were so obvious. "Sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to invade your privacy."

"It's okay." Amy looked at Derek and Norma, who were handcuffed by the police. "I think I should explain that picture. You see, Nancy, your mother was the reason I became an artist."

"Mom was?" asked Nancy, perplexed.

Amy nodded. "The picture which you saw was I standing by Mrs. Drew after I won my first art competition. She was always saying that I was fit to be an artist, and she looked out for me, even though my parents didn't like my idea of being an artist to make a living. So, I decided to study art, even after Mrs. Drew was killed." Amy looked at Nancy, and her smile broadened. "And look at you! You don't look any different than when you were a three-year-old! I still remember you when you were three. You were like a little doll, carrying your favorite stuffed animal wherever you went!"

Nancy smiled. "I guess my looks never change."

Suddenly, Nancy remembered that George and Bess were still waiting for her reply. Taking out her cell phone, she called Bess's number.

"Hello?" Bess answered.

"Hi. This is Nancy," said Nancy. "And you won't believe what happened."

Bess thought for a moment. "Well, at least you got your cell phone back. I was honestly surprised to see your cell phone number in my caller ID. I thought you said that it was stolen!"

Nancy laughed. "It was. But we revealed everything—from the hidden treasure to the motives of the two killers—and are in the police station right now."

"I knew it," George said. "I knew you didn't need us in solving this case, Nancy."

"George! Since when have you been eavesdropping?" Nancy said, surprised.

George chuckled. "There is the thing called 'speakerphone', Nancy. Right now, we're packing our stuffs so we can head to River Heights this afternoon."

"Did you do anything interesting?" asked Bess. "Besides solving a murder, that is."

"Yeah. I found that both of the cute guys were culprits—one was a killer and the other, who is from the land of _Ooh, la-la_, was a greedy treasure hunter."

Bess sighed. "I knew they were too perfect to be true!"

George giggled. "That's the thing with cute guys; they either turn out to be criminals or spies. That's why I don't trust men. Especially the 'cute' ones Bess keeps talking about."

Nancy grinned. "But this case turned out to be more complex than I thought."

"More complex than the last one?" asked Bess.

"Yup. You know, people sometimes go to doing murder because of their greed. And the people whose loved ones are killed sometimes turn to murder in order to avenge the ones who they loved. It's such a complicated world."

"Don't I know it," said George. "Anyway, when will you be returning to River Heights? We're taking the three-thirty flight home."

"I'm going to head home at four. We'll roughly be able to get to River Heights at the same time."

"Great!" said George. "I guess you can tell us the entire thing once we get to River Heights!"

"Sure," answered Nancy. "And you can tell me the adventure you had in Shadow Ranch, too. Bye, you two!"

As Nancy hung up, she saw Callie approaching her.

"I just talked to Henri," she said. "And he admitted that he was the one who went to the window of my room wearing a mask. He said that it might quicken our investigating speed. How pathetic! And to thin that I was scared out of my wits, too!" Callie then smiled at Ned, who stood by Nancy. "And thanks again, Ned. But at least now, we don't owe each other anything."

Ned grinned shyly. "Well, thanks." After Callie went away to talk to Frank and Joe, Ned turned to Nancy. "I'm sorry to act all jerky when I saw you with Henri," he apologized, blushing slightly.

Nancy smiled. "Oh, that. I'm not bothered at all. But what really amazed me was how you found out where the hidden treasure was! How did you know that?"

Ned grinned. "When we first found the hidden compartment, I felt the walls and found one that didn't feel like the others. I immediately knew that it was a hidden door that was painted gray so people would just think it's a wall."

The girl detective nodded. "Wow, I'm really impressed, Ned. I didn't know you were a detective! A very cute one at that."

Ned laughed. "Thanks. Maybe we can open our detective agency after all."

"I guess so," said Nancy. "And when the time comes, I'll let _you_ decide which name should come first: Nickerson-Drew or Drew-Nickerson."

"I think that won't be necessary," answered her boyfriend, giving her a hug.

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_**Postscript: **_**And here ends _Haunting Memories_, the longest story I've ever written. And it's also the most complicated out of the four stories in the "New Adventures of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys" series. I'd really like to hear from you, my readers, about this story. How was it? Was the trick (the one about a box that's made to look like a bed) easy or hard to think of? Was this story romance-centered, mystery-centered, or little of both? What would you like to read about in the future? I'd be grateful if you can answer one of these questions in your review. Anyway, thanks for reading this story till the very end, and here is the preview of the next mystery, titled: _Knowing Too Much_.**

_Nancy, George, and Bess go all the way to France to help their long-time friend Helen Corning, who is now Mrs. Helen Archer. Helen says that she keeps getting mysterious messages threatening her life! But Nancy has two other cases on her mind as she starts her investigation: the theft that occurred at the house of her father's client and the hit-and-run murder of the client's wife. Meanwhile, Frank and Joe are in France as bodyguards for Renee Frasier, a famous movie actress. The five detectives then meet as they continue their investigation, but they fail to notice that a diabolical plan is in play. They race against time as a suspect is killed to catch the ellusive murderer. More mysteries than ever! Total of five mysteries will keep the detectives busy as they try to uncover clues from all over France in: **Knowing Too Much**._

_Don't miss the first chapter that starts July 22. See you then!_

_James Stapleton _**_  
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